Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141212

This is the best of this institution of how it performs. It has been embodied in the Public Service of carl levin for 36 years here. What you have heard is the testimonies on both sides of the aisle that because of how he has conducted himself as an individual and how he has conducted himself as a Public Servant and how he has conducted himself as a leader in this senate is exactly how this institution is supposed to function. Isnt it rather symbolic that on the last couple of days of the session the bill that will be passed is the bill that he has ushered and he never broke tradition. He made sure the Defense Authorization bill was going to be passed by hammering out the differences with the house and shepherding it through the parliament process. And its happened every year because of extraordinary leadership. I will close simply by saying that because he is all of the things that youve heard, the consummate gentleman, the humble Public Servant, the razor sharp mind, the best lawyer, by the way, in the entire senate, because he is all of those things, he also is the embodiment of a senator, because when he gives you his word, thats it. You dont have to worry anymore. The future senates should take a lesson from the life and the leadership of carl levin of michigan. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from west virginia. Mr. Manchin mr. President , i rise with honor and pleasure to be able to say thank you to my dear friend. I am the most junior member, besides yourself, in this body today, and when i first came to the senate and i have asked for Armed Services. West virginia has a large percentage of putting an awful lot of people, percentagewise than most states that have served in all the branches of the military. The National Guard is very near and dear to me. There are many reasons i wanted to be Armed Services. When i got here in the most toxic times of the political arena, if you will. It was not what i expected, to say the least. Seeing the toxic atmosphere that i come into, people said it didnt used to be this way. It used to work. The process worked. The whole senate aura of the senate was there, and were losing that. So that was their excuse for telling me this is why its not working today but it used to work. And i kept thinking. Then i became part of this committee, Armed Services committee, with this unbelievable chairman whose name is carl levin. I watched and observed. I didnt say a whole lot at first, as freshmen arent supposed to, but i watched and i learned and i saw the system the way i imagined it probably was 20, 30, 40 years ago when it did work. I saw the senate. And im thinking why cant the rest of the senate work the way the Armed Services Committee Works . And there is one reason we dont have enough carl levin. We just dont have enough carl levin. Practical, reasonable, sensible. It makes sense to me what he would say. I had difficulties. Just recently, i have had difficulties on a piece of legislation. Its very important. Carl spoke to me in terms that my father would have spoke to me, and i understood very well. State your opposition, record your opposition and look at the whole situation as the good of the bill better than basically this piece that you oppose, and you can explain your opposition. Just different things. The way carl would say and carl would always say this, too. You ask him. He would say listen, i cant tell you what to do. I may have heard that. I cant tell you what you have to do. And really, you have to do what you think is right. And let me give you some points to think about. Thats an unbelievable mentor that will give you the ability to kind of process this whole system that were in. Let me just say this, carl. I have im sorry that i didnt have the honor and the opportunity and the pleasure to serve with you many, many more years. I really am. Or i didnt get here soon enough, whatever the case may be. But you have left an impression on me as how the place should work. Robert c. Byrd, my senate predecessor, basically felt as passionate as you do. There is a process here. There is a reason for the process to make us talk to each other, to make this place work, and there is never a situation that we should get into thats as important to the american citizen or this country that we cant work it out and cant get at least 60 votes. Never a time that we couldnt get 60 votes. If we do, then basically just changing the rule is not going to change the attitude and atmosphere that were in. So i believe very strongly in that and i appreciate the fight you have. We have a saying in west virginia. In the hills of west virginia, we have a saying. Theyre good people. You meet somebody, and he says theyre good people. Carl, youre good people. Thank you. The presiding officer the senator from maryland. Mr. Cardin mr. President , one of the great honors of serving in the United States senate and it is a great honor to serve in this body is the fact that i have had the opportunity to serve with carl levin. I think senator levin represents the very best of our political system, the very best of the United States senate and why im so proud to be part of this institution. I must tell you, i came from the house of representatives and i had the great pleasure to have as one of my closest friends in the house of representatives carls brother sandy. Sandy is an incredibly talented person who believes in Public Service, and like his brother carl, the two of them had devoted their family reputation to Public Service and has given so much back. Carl, i could tell you what youve done for national security, for our national defense, the type of attention that you have paid to make sure that this country is as well prepared as it needs to be. Youve done that in an exemplary way. I could tell you what you have done for the people of michigan, the type of representative. You have been a great United States senator for your state but a great United States senator for the United States, and thats not always an easy balance that you have been able to do. And as so many colleagues have said, when we seek advice, when we need a senator to help us understand something, we go to carl levin. I know some of my constituents have a hard time believing that we read the bills around here. Carl levin reads the bills around here. Hes found typographical errors in some of my legislation. Hes found ways that we didnt express ourselves the way that we should have. He writes me notes all the time. And i thank him for that dedication. But as several of our colleagues have pointed out, there is no one here who has a greater love for the traditions the best traditions, the best traditions of the United States senate, a senate that that debates and respects each other. And one of the great opportunities i had was to sit in a room with Lamar Alexander and carl levin and others and talk about that and how we could restore the best tara traditions of the United States senate. So senator levin, i just want you to know i will always be indebted to serving in this body with you and learning from you and recognizing just what one person can do to carry out the honor and dignity of Public Service. You really define Public Service, and for that, i am very grateful, the people of michigan are grateful, the people of america are grateful. Congratulations for a Great Service to our country. Mr. Brown mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. Its no surprise to any of us that the first thing carl levin did when he spoke today was thank the staff, not just his own staff but the police force and the grounds keepers and the food Service People and the people that too many in this world ignore. That was the first thing he did. The second thing carl did in his address was to talk about the gulf between the fortunate few and the struggling many. That has been what i most admire about carl levin, that hes always aware of that and always fighting the fight for people that have a lot less privilege that those of us do that dress like this and get really great titles. And no one, frankly, no one in this body has stood up to special interests and the most powerful forces in this town more effectively and more energetically than carl levin, and for that i am so grateful, and i know so many of us in this country are so grateful. Thank you, senator levin. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley mr. President , when i came here in 2009, we were in the middle of an enormous meltdown due to highrisk trading inside our major banks, and i wondered whether we as an institution were capable of undertaking this challenge of changing the circumstances around that in order to not have another 20072008 meltdown that would do so much damage to families across this country, and i put out an email to everyone and said is anyone interested in taking on this issue for the future stability of our financial system, and the next day i came to the floor, and senator levin said the email you sent out, i want to talk to you about that. I want to partner in taking this on, and immediately basically said well Work Together. Im not the senior senator who wants to take over this effort, although i would have been glad for that to happen, but he took his there was not the ego in it. There was the intellect and the passion and the determination to fix a problem. And to me, the senate should be about people coming together to fix problems to make this nation work better, and that event is deeply burned into my mind. The result, because of senator levins efforts, was the volcker rule that said that highrisk trading should not be done on the banks books for highrisk trading and highrisk instruments. It will make a significant difference in the years to come. But what i particularly want to thank my colleague for is the attitude of coming together to solve important problems for america, even if that means taking on very powerful special interests, and i hope well see a lot more of that from this senate in the years to come, but it will be a much bigger challenge without you here, and we will miss you greatly, and thank you so much, senator, for your service to our nation. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander mr. President , the senate at its best has been said to be the one authentic piece of genius in the american political system. Carl levin is the senate at its best. I thank him for his courtesy, his decency, his scholarship and his sense of Public Service, and i thank him for his reminder that if we are going to have the trust of the American People to write rules for them, we should follow our own rules. Its been a privilege to serve with him. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Harkin mr. President , i, too, want to spend just a couple of moments reflecting upon my long friendship and association with senator carl levin from michigan. Much has been said here about carl, the person and the senator. Let me just say this i dont know of anyone in this body who has exhibited more of an intellectual honesty, a calm demeanor, a sense of fierce loyalty and perseverance. I dont know anyone who exhibits those qualities more than carl levin. Carl embodies the best of what i think it means to be both a citizen and a United States senator. Barbara and carl and ruth and i have enjoyed many meals together over the years, great conversations about everything, and i just want to say to my friend carl, i hope that michigan and iowa are not so far apart that we cant continue to get together in the future, and i will say, carl, right now i hope that i hope that you dont hold it against me for all of the times that the hawkeyes will beat the wolverines in the future. Dont let that be a stumbling block to our friendship. [laughter] i yield the floor, mr. President. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Inhofe ill be very brief because i know that we have some other things coming up before our going on to the ndaa and ill be standing here with my good friend and brother, carl, at that time. But i recall when i was first elected to the house of representatives its hard for me to believe thats 28 years ago i became good friends of a guy named levin there. But it wasnt carl, it was his brother. And there was a real sincere lovable attitude by him. I can remember talking over some of these sitting by him during some of the debate on very partisan things and i really thought, this guy is really neat, you know. You cant he has the its the kind of thing where you cant dislike him. Well, then i came over here 20 years ago and theres another one. And it just happens that my Major Committee well, i have two Major Committees, environment and public works and the senate Armed Services committee and i thought, this is remarkable because while on occasion we will differ im talking about the chairman and me; and im the Ranking Member of that committee occasionally well come up on an issue where we dont agree. And then when we on two occasions last year and this year we had to go into this process of the big four. Now, thats where it gets really contentious because at that point, youve got to come up with a bill. And so there was never a time yes, we had to give in. I dont know whether he gave in more than i gave in, but whatever it was, it it all had to happen and it did happen and it happened because of carl more than me. Chairman levin and i can both say the same thing, people will hate me and they love him. I always wonder how you get by with doing that but you do. So he is a lovable guy that i will sincerely miss and that relationship, and i hope that youll be back often so you can be here to remind other people what a real statesman is. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Sanders mr. President , i just want to take a moment to thank carl levin for his friendship. I think, as has been previously noted, carl is recognized as having perhaps the greatest intellect here in the United States senate. Carl has been for so many years a forceful fighter against waste in the military and in recent years he has led the United States senate in telling us that it is absurd that large multinational corporations that are able to avoid hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes by storing their money in offshore tax havens. Hes been a leader on that. And for those of us who are concerned about the needs of our kids and our elderly and our infrastructure and all the terrible problems facing this country, this is an issue we have got to focus on. So i think senator carl levin has been a senators senator. He has been a model of what a good senator should be. It is not surprising that people from all political persuasions will come to the floor to thank him for his service. So, senator levin, thank you very much for your friendship. Mr. Franken mr. President . As long as we have a money, i just want to the presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Mr. Franken i just want to echo what everyone has said. I had the honor of traveling on a codel with chairman levin to pakistan and afghanistan when id been here just a few weeks, so i was traveling with the chairman of the armed forces committee. And the respect that he got from everyone from the generals down to the privates when i was especially in afghanistan, was remarkable. Carl fought to increase the number of our the ratio of our troops to contractors. Carl, when he when we took the majority back in 2006, started doing the kind of oversight of the contracting that had been really led to a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in iraq. Hes used p. S. I. In the way it was intended by harry truman. And i thank him especially for the work he did on the Credit Rating agencies, the wall street Credit Rating agencies. Right now standards and poors is being prosecuted by or sued by d. O. J. For about 5 billion, and part of what theyre using are are emails that the permanent subcommittee on investigation obtained in which basically the Credit Rating agencies internally were saying we better give this a aaa rating, otherwise were going to lose our business. That, in no small way, led to the meltdown that we had because all this junk was getting aaas and those were bets on bets on bets on bets on bets and thats what led to the meltdown. And carl always seems to to go to where that kind of topdown fraud or malfeasance is going. And so when we talk about, as he opened, as sherrod mentioned when he talked about the disparities and how this is rigged very often from the topdown, talking about the offshoring and the work they did in p. S. I. , on the permanent subcommittee on investigations, on that is on tax havens, on inversions. And i hope to take that up as carl leaves. Carl leaves a lot of unfinished business. Everything thats been said has been said is who carl is. Everyone should know that. One thing hasnt been said is, he misha. So, carl, youre one of the most hemish men ive ever known. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from maine is recognized. Mr. King mr. President , i want to speak very briefly, because, as senator manchin somewhat impolitely pointed out, im the most junior person in the place. [laughter] but i want to say a couple things about carl levin. The first is, as has been said here repeatedly, carl levin is a man of immense intellect and character and i want to explain how that came to be. I thought that would be important to lay on the record. And it came to be because carl levin and his brother spent their boyhood summers in the state of maine. And that imparts character to anyone whos lucky enough to have that experience. Secondly, i want to mention, because its been mentioned several times, about the travel. I had the great good fortune to travel, after having been here about six months, carl and i, as members of the Armed Services committee, went to turkey and jordan to try to get some insight into the situation in syria. My only advice to anyone in this body is if youre ever invited to travel with carl levin, spend the prior two or three months in the gym. I have never been so exhausted in my life. And we would be at a 10 00 p. M. After allday meetings and touring of refugee sites and carl will be saying, cant we have another meeting . Isnt there someone else we can talk to . His absolute passion for information and data upon which to make decisions is i think exemplary. The final thing i want to note is and its been talked about how he is a senators senator, which is certainly true my observation and, in fact, my experience this year in the markup of the national Defense Authorization act is the highlight of my experience in this body. And the reason it is, because it worked like its supposed to work. We had 2 1 2 days of markup. They were about 10hour days, as i recall. There were over 200 amendments. And through carls leadership, most of those amendments were compromised and worked out between the parties and between the individuals that were moving the amendments, but we ended up with about 20 that we couldnt resolve in that way. And i went back, i was so struck by this, i went back and looked at the record of that markup. Of the 20 amendments that were voted on in the committee, not a single one of those amendments was decided on a partyline vo vote. There were votes of 1312 or 164 or whatever the vote was. Not a single partyline vote. I think that in itself is an extraordinary achievement in a body that is often driven bipartisan divisions. And i think its attributable in large measure to carl levins leadership. Everybody had their say. Everybody had their opportunity to put their thoughts forward. Everybody had an opportunity to get a vote, if they felt that was necessary, and, of course, in the end the bill came out of the committee i think it was 251. And thats what legislating is supposed to be all about. Because and i think thats a lesson for us. Because people felt that they got their amendments, they got their discussion, they got their ideas out, even if they werent successful, at the end they voted for the bill because they were invested in the process. And thats what i learned from this man who i think has been just an inspiration for those of us that are coming along behind. And, again, im just so honored. Carl, i one of the great joys of my life has been to serve with you for two years. One of the great sadnesses of my life is that its only two years. But i deeply appreciate what youve done for this body and for the United States of america. Bless you. Mr. Schumer mr. President . The presiding officer the senior senator from new york. Mr. Schumer i know my good friend from iowa is waiting patiently so i will greatly curtail my remarks. I would simply like to say to my dear friend, carl, who we will all miss, if you had to put a headline on whats happening today, its mr. Integrity retires from the senate. There is no one, no one in this body on either side of the aisle whose integrity is more respected than yours, carl. You have many great traits. But at these times in america, when people have such distrust of government and elected officials, to have somebody who is so widely trusted by his constituency and by the members of this body whove worked with him closely over the years on both sides of the aisle, is a real tribute. You are mr. Integrity and that is one of many reasons we will miss you. And again, id have more to say but in deference to my dear friend from iowa, who i see is ready to roll, i will yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman i will be brief as well, mr. President , just to say that im going to miss my colleague and ive told him that personally but i wanted to share just a couple of reasons. One, as a new member on the other side of the aisle when i first got here, carl, who i had gotten to know a little bit through his brother, who i see is on the floor with us today, who has fought many fights with him on the squash court but they remain dear friends. He came to me and said, you ought to join the auto caucus. Im not a big caucus guy. Most caucuses dont do much in this place and then i saw what he was doing with the auto caucus and he agreed to allow me to come on as cochair and weve had a an opportunity to help to fight for the autoworkers in michigan and ohio, around the country and to ensure that the renaissance of the Auto Industry is sustained. But he, as im sure has been said by many here today, went out of his way to make it not just bipartisan but nonpartisan. He does his homework. We share some committee assignments. We dont always agree. In fact, sometimes we disagree on some fundamental issues. But i always know hes well prepared, does his homework and has the very best intentions and that says a lot for him and for the reason that hes viewed as such a leader in the senate. Finally, when i got here, i was honored to serve on the Armed Services committee and there we were able to Work Together on a number of projects, including ones that, frankly, he might not normally have thought were priorities but because i was a new member and interested in helping my state on some specific projects, he stood up for me and i will not forget that. Weve also done legislation together and had the opportunity to Work Together on some important projects that have to do with the great lakes, including great lakes restoration, where hes also been a nonpartisan partner. So i join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in saying that this is one of those giants of the senate who will be missed. And although ive only been here for four of his many years of service, i was privileged to serve with him. I yield back. The presiding officer the senator from michigan. Mr. Levin mr. President , i know senator harkin is ready now to speak and is truly one of the great senators that ive ever served with. Senator harkin is one of the greatest people ive ever known, he and ruth and barb and i have spent quality time which is not true for so many of us around here to have that opportunity. I just want to thank everybody whose words have meant so much to me and my family today. Im going to join my family now and i know that tom will forgive me for not listening, but i will be reading what you say and you and ruth and barb and i will have some more quality time together. Perhaps not as much fun as being in the senate, but well make the best of it. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Harkin mr. President , almost two years ago i announced i was not going to seek a sixth term in the United States senate. That decision and that announcement didnt seem all that difficult or hard at that time. After all, two years was a long time off. Since then ive been busy with having hearings and meeting constituents and getting legislation to the help committee and working on appropriations. But now, knowing this will be my final formal speech on the floor of the u. S. Senate, now knowing that in a few days a semitruck is going to pull up to the Hart Building and load hundreds of boxes of my records of 40e 40 yeerks 40 years, 30 in the senate and 10 in the house and haul that off to Drake University and civic and Public Communications in des moines, iowa, now seeing my office at the Hart Building stripped almost bare and the shelves clean, now when i will soon cast my last vote, now when i will no longer be engaged in legislative battle, when i will no longer be summoned by the senate bells, now when i will soon just be number 1,763 of all of the senators who etch who ever served in the United States senate, now, now the leaving becomes hard and wrenching and emotional. And thats because i love the United States senate. I love my work here. Its been said by a lot of pundits that the senates broken. No, its not. The senates not broken. Oh, maybe a few dents, a couple of scrapes here and there, banged up a little bit, but there is still no other place in america where one person can do big things for good or for ill, for our people and our nation. I love the people with whom i work. This is a deaf sign, ily. It means i love you. Senators, staff, clerks, Congressional Research service, doorkeepers, restroom, police, congressional employees, yes, the pages, especially to those who labor outside the lights and cameras and the news stories who make this senate function on a daily basis, i thank you. I particularly want to thank my wonderful hardworking dedicated staff both present and past, both personal and committee staff. When i Say Committee staff, i mean the appropriations, subcommittee on Labor Services which ive been privileged to chair since 1989. Also the committee on agriculture on which i have served since 1985, which i chaired twice for two farm bills, once in 2001 and 2002 and the second one in 2007 and 2009. The committee on health, education, labor and pensions which i shared since the untimely death of senator ted kennedy in 2009. I first heard pat leahy say this, so i always attribute it to him. He once said that we senators are just a constitutional impediment to the smooth functioning of staff. This is truer than most of us would probably like to admit. Also in thanking my staff, i dont just mean those who work in washington. I would never have been reelected four times without the handson, day in day out constituent service of my iowa staff. The casework they have done in helping people with problems is every bit as important as any legislative work done here in washington. In 2012, our Office Marked a real milestone. The 100,000th constituent service case that weve processed since 1985. I cannot count the number of times iowans personally thanked me fofer for something my staff has done to help them. There is a story out our way that ive heard for a long time. It goes like this, if youre driving down a country road and you see a turtle sitting on a fence post, you can be sure of one thing. It didnt get there by itself. I can relate to that turtle. I didnt get here by myself. My staff helped. So i thank my staff of past and present who have so strongly support immediate when i was right, so diplomatically corrected me when i was wrong, and who all labored in a shared commitment to provide a hand up, a ladder of opportunity to those who had been dealt a bad hand in the lottery of life. I ask consent, mr. President , to list of names of my staffs so they will be forever enshrined in the history of the United States senate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Harkin but most of all, i thank my wife ruth, the love of my life, my wife of 46 years. You have been my constant companion, my soul mate, my strongest supporter, and my most honest critic. Youve been my joy in happy times and my solace when things just didnt go right. So im looking forward to more adventures and love and excitement with you in the years ahead. To our two beautiful, smart, caring and compassionate daughters amy and jenny, i thank you for always being there for your dad, for giving me such wondrous joy in being a part of your growing up. I am so proud of both of you. And to my soninlaw steve and to my grandkids, daisy and luke and nequaid, look out, here comes grandpa. There is so much i want to say but i want to be respectful of those who have come to share this moment with me. My staff, here and there, my family and friends and fellow senators. But i want to state as briefly as i can why im here. What has propelled me . What has been my guiding philosophy for all these years . It has to do with that ladder of opportunity that i just mentioned. You see, theres nothing wrong in america with being a success. Theres nothing wrong with having more money and having a nicer home and a nicer car and sending your kids to good schools and having nice vacations and a great retirement. That is a big part of the american dream. But i believe that when you make it to the top and you make it to the top and you make it to the top and i make it to the top, one of the primary responsibilities of our free government is to make sure we leave the ladder down for others to climb. Now, mind you, i said ladder. I didnt say an escalator. An escalator is a free ride. Dont believe in that. But if you follow my analogy a little bit more, with a ladder you still have to use energy and effort, initiative to get up. But in order to do that, there must be rungs on that ladder. Thats where government comes in. To put some rungs there. The bottom rungs, everything from the Child Health Care programs, the head start, the best public schools, the best teachers, affordable and accessible college, job training sometimes sometimes people fall off that ladder. Sometimes they have an illness, they have an accident. Thats why we have a safety net, to catch them. Things like Disability Insurance and work mens compensation, job retraining programs to get them back up on that ladder once again. 35 years ago we looked around america and we saw millions of people that no matter how hard they tried could never climb that ladder of success. No matter how hard they tried, could never do it. These are our fellow americans, our brothers and sisters with disabilities. So what did government do . We built them a ramp and we called it the americans with disabilities act. Now again, we didnt build a moving walk way, did we . You see, with a ramp you still have to exert energy and initiative to get up. Ive often said theres not one dime, not one nickel in the americans with disabilities act given to a person with a disability. What we did is we broke down the barriers. We opened the doors of accessibility and accommodation and we said to people with disabilities, follow your dreams. And in the words of the army motto, be all you can be. I can remember standing here leading the charge on the americans with disabilities act. Once again i feel a lot like that turtle. I had a lot of people helping. When i think of the americans with disabilities act, i think of people like senator lowell weiker, senator bob dole, senator ted kennedy in the senate. In the house tony convey low and Steve Bartlett and steny hoyer. In the executive branch at the head of it all, president George Herbert walker bush. Attorney general dick thornburgh, boyden gray. And on the outside, people like ed roberts and marko bristo, bob kafka and the indomitable justin dart. And here, the one person who worked his heart out to bring it together, its that staff again i tell you about. That staff. Bobby silverstein. It would have never have happened without him. And so i believe that government must not be just an observant bystander to life. It must be a force for good, for lifting people up, for giving hope to the hopeless. You know, ive never had an i love me wall in my office. What i did have were two items on the wall by my door when i walk out to go vote or go to a Committee Meeting or whatever. One is a drawing of the house in which my mother was born and lived until she was 25 years of age when she emigrated to america. That small, little house was in yugoslavia. It is now sluha slovenia. That little house had a dirt floor, no running water. That was my mothers house. The second item on my wall is this its my fathers w. P. A. Card. It says notice to report for work on a project, w. P. A. Form 402. It is to patrick f. Harkin, cuming iowa. Youre asked to report for work as a laborer for 40. 30 per month. The date is four months to the day before i was born. Get this picture. My father was then 53 years old. He had worked most of the time in the coal mines of southern iowa. Not in the best of health. There were no jobs. No jobs. Life looked pretty bleak. Things looked hopeless. And then my father, who only had a sixth grade education, as he told me later, he always said i got a letter from Franklin Roosevelt. He always thought Franklin Roosevelt sent this to him personally, you see. He got that letter from Franklin Roosevelt and i got a job. It was important for a lot of reasons, not only for the money and the dignity of work, but it gave my father hope, the hope that tomorrow would be better than today, that our family would stay together. We had five kids and a sixth one on the way, me. And it gave him hope that his kids would have a better future. I often think that the project he worked on is called lake aquabie. My friend, senator grassley, knows about that lake. Its a state park with a lake, recreation. People still use it today. Every federal judge who is sworn in takes an oath to quote do equal right to the poor and to the rich, to do equal right to the poor and to the rich. Can we here in congress say that we do that, that we provide equal right to the poor and the rich alike . Our growing inequality proves we are not. Maybe we should be taking that oath. There are four overriding issues that i hope this senate will address in this coming session and in the years ahead. Number one, as i mentioned, the growing economic inequality in america. Its destructive of lives, it slows our progress as a nation and it will doom broad support for representative government. When people at the bottom of the economic ladder feel that the government is not helping them, and in fact may be stacked against them, they will cease to vote or they will turn to the siren song of extreme elements in our society. History proves this to be true. Now, i dont have a cookie cutter answer or solution, but it must include more fair tax laws and trade laws, more job training and restraining, rebuilding our physical infrastructure and manufacturing. And i believe it must include some things seemingly unrelated like quality, free Early Education for every child in america. The answer to closing the inequality gap must include rebuilding labor unions and collective bargaining. If you trace the line over the last 40 years of the growing economic quality in america and also put that over another line showing the loss in the number of union workers, they are almost identical. I do not believe it is a stretch to say that organized labor, unions, built the middle class in america, and they are a part of the answer and strengthening and rebuilding of our middle class. Another part of the answer, i believe, is raising the minimum wage to above the poverty line and indexing it for inflation for the future. We need more flex time laws, especially for women in our work force. We need to strengthen Social Security as in senator browns bill. Not cutting, not raising the retirement age but strengthening Social Security. We need a new retirement system for all workers in america. Not another 401k but a system in which employers and employees contribute and which can only be withdrawn as an annuity for life after one retires. I ask you to look at what the netherlands has, that type of retirement system. Lack of a reliable retirement is one of the most underreported, underexamined crises on our National Horizon and its a big part of our growing inequality. Finally, we must continue to build on the Affordable Care act. The cost and availability of Good Health Care has in the past widened that inequality gap, and were now starting to close that element of the inequality. I believe we need to add a public option to the exchange as another choice for people. And we must continue support for prevention and public health, moving us more and more away from sick care to real health care. The second overriding issue confronting us i believe is the destruction of the family of mans only hope, our planet earth, through the continued use of fossil fuels. We know what is happening, the science is irrefutable, the data is clear. The warning signs are flashing in neon bright red, stop what youre doing with fossil fuels. We must shift massively and quickly to renewable nir, a new smart electric grid, retrofitting our buildings for Energy Efficiency and moving rapidly to a hydrogenbased energy cycle. The third issue i commend to the senate for further development and changes in existing laws is the underemployment of people with disabilities. As you all know, ensuring the equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities has been a major part of my work in the senate for the past 30 years. We have made significant strides forward in changing america to fulfill two of the four goals of the americans with disabilities act. Those two are full participation and equal opportunity. Weve done all right on those. The other two goals, independent living and economic selfsufficiency, need more development. I ask you all in the next congress to do two things, to advance these two goals of independent living and economic selfsufficiency. First, help states implement the supreme courts decision in the olmstead case, to more rapidly deinstitutionalize people with disabilities and to provide true independent living with support services. This will save money, and individuals with disabilities lives will be better and more truly independent. Secondly, we must do more on employment of people with disabilities in competitive integrated employment. You know, we all get the monthly unemployment figures every month. Last month, unemployment held steady at 5. 8 officially. My friend leo henry has better calculations to show that the real rate is probably about twice that figure. Also, we know that the Unemployment Rate among africanamericans is about twice that, 11. 1 . How many of us know that the Unemployment Rate among adult americans with disabilities who can work and want to work is over 60 . Yes, you heard me right. Almost two out of every three americans with a disability who want to work and who can work cannot find a job. That is a blot on our national character. Thankfully, some enlightened employers have affirmative action plans to hire more people with disabilities. Employers are finding that many times these become their best employees. Theyre more productive. Theyre the hardest working, the most reliable workers. I ask you to meet with greg watson, the c. E. O. Of walgreens and randy lewis who is a Senior Vice President there, now retired. Walgreens has hired many people with disabilities in their distribution centers, and now mr. Watson has set a goal of 10 of all of their store employees will be people with disabilities. This needs to be emulated by businesses all over america. There are others making strides in this area. I mention a few. Best buy, lowes, home depot, i. B. M. , marriott. Some of the other Large Companies that are moving forward, hiring people with disabilities. We need to learn from them what we, the federal and, yes, maybe the State Government could do to help in this area. And we also need to implement policies to help Small Businesses, Small Businesses employ more people with disabilities. Now, i dwell on this perhaps because i feel i havent done enough on this issue of employment for people with disabilities, and we just have to do better. I will say, however, that our help committee passed this year, president obama signed into law a new reauthorization of the old Work Force Investment act, now named the Work Force Investment and opportunity act. In this law, there is a new provision that i worked on with others to get more intervention in high school for kids with disabilities to prepare them for the workplace through things like summer jobs, job coaching, internments. However, this is just starting and funding is tight, but it will do much for people with disabilities to enter competitive, integrated employment. And i want to thank all members of the help committee for their support of this bill but especially senator murray, senator isakson for taking the lead to get this bill done, along with senator enzi, senator alexander and me. And while im mentioning the help committee, let me thank all members of the help committee for a very productive last two years during which we passed 24 bills signed into law by the president. Important bills dealing with things like drug track and tracing, compounding drugs, the Work Force Investment act i just mentioned, the Child Care Development block grant, newborn screening act, and many more. And i see him here on the floor, and i want to publicly again thank senator Lamar Alexander for being a great partner in all these efforts. Senator alexander will be taking the helm of this Great Committee in the next congress. Senator alexander certainly has the background to lead this committee, but he also combines that background with a keen mind and a good heart, and i wish him continued success as the new chairman of the help committee. The fourth issue that i hope future senates will take care of concerns the u. N. Convention on the rights of people with disabilities. I dont think anything has saddened me more in my 30 years here in the senate than the failure of this body to ratify the convention on the rights of people with disabilities. Or the crpd, as its known. Its been ratified by 150 nations. Its modeled after our own americans with disabilities act. It has broad and deep support throughout our country. Supported by the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the business roundtable, veterans groups, every disability organization, every former living president , every former republican leader of this senate. Senator dole, senator lott, senator frist. In november, we received a letter of support from the National Association of evangelicals supporting it. And i also want to point out, senator dole has worked his heart out on this. You remember, he was here on the floor two years ago this month right before we brought it up, and i thought we had the votes for it. In our constitution, it takes twothirds. We failed by six votes. But bob dole has never given up on this, never. Well, i hope the next senate will take this up and join with the rest of the world in helping to make changes globally for people with disabilities. So i came to congress, the house in 1974 as one of the watergate babies. With my retirement and retirement in the house of congressman George Miller and congressman henry waxman, we are the last of the socalled watergate babies. With two exceptions. Among all the democrats elected in that landslide year of 1974, there were a few republicans, and one is left, my senior colleague from the state of iowa, senator chuck grassley. I have the greatest respect for and friendship with chuck. Several weeks ago here on the floor, he said some very gracious things about me, and i thank him for that. I especially appreciated his observation, though, that even though he and i are like night and day when it comes to political views, theres no light between us when it comes to iowa. We have collaborated on so many important initiatives for the people of iowa. I think we made a heck of a Good Tag Team on behalf of our state. So again, i salute and thank my friend and colleague of nearly 40 years, chuck grassley. Carry on, chuck. And the other i mention is my lifelong dear friend rick nolan, who was in the 1974 class. Voluntarily Left Congress after three terms, returned to the house in 2012 and was recently reelected. So 40 years later, this watergate baby has grown up, gray. I came to the senate 30 years ago as a proud progressive, determined to get things done. As i depart the senate, i can say in good conscience that ive remained true to my progressive roots. I have worked faithfully to leave behind a more vibrant iowa, a more just and inclusive america, and a stronger ladder and ramp of opportunity for the disadvantaged in our country. You might say that my career in congress is the story of a poor kid from cumming, iowa, population, 150, trying his best to pay it forward, saying thank you for the opportunities i was given by leaving that ladder and ramp of opportunity stronger for those who follow. If i have accomplished this in any small way, if any americans are able to lead better lives because of my work, i leave office a satisfied person. So i am retiring from the senate, but im not retiring from the fight. I will never retire from the fight to ensure equal opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic selfsufficiency for every disabled person in america. I will never retire from the fight to give a hand up and hope to those who have experienced disadvantage and adversity. I will never retire from the fight to make this a land of social and Economic Justice for all americans. Let me close with a single word from american sign language. On july 13 of 1990 i stood here and gave an entire speech in sign language. Confused senator kennedy who was senator kerry, sitting in the chair, dent know what to do and the recording clerk didnt know what to do, either. But then i had to give it verbally. Well, i didnt want to do that today. But theres one sign that i want to leave with you that says something. Its powerful. Powerful. One of the most beautiful signs in american sign language. And might i teach it to you . Take your hands and put them together like this. Put your fingers together. Put your fingers together. Put your hands together like that and you kind of close and it looks like an a when you do that. And move it in a circle in front of your body. Thats it, pages. You got it. This is the sign for america. Think about it. Think entity. All of us interconnected, browned together in bound together in a single circle of inclusion, no one left out. This is the ideal america toward which we must always, always aspire. And with that, mr. President , for the last time, i yield the floor. [applause] a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley my colleagues who are waiting to speak to honor senator harkin, im not going to take the amount of time that i did on his birthday. I want to tell my colleagues that probably what i said on his birthday on november 19 i probably should have waited and said today, but i wanted to speak about our working relationship. And i want senator harkin to know that ive enjoyed my working relationship with him, together working for iowa. I want to compliment him on the many accomplishments hes made. I consider him a friend, and as he goes back to iowa, well maintain that friendship, im sure. I would like to ask my colleagues if they would think about looking at what i said before on his birthday because im not going to repeat that here, but i think we ought to recognize that senator harkin works hard up to his last day in the United States senate because one of his work over the last 25 years was on inhumane labor issues around the world and he traveled to oslo recently, very recently, to honor a person that received the Nobel Peace Prize for that crusade as well as all the good work that senator harkin has done on it. And probably that person received the award because of senator harkin so long suggesting that the individual deserves that attention. So im going to be very brief today, since my remarks, prior remarks outlined our friendship and his record in some detail. Its in the congressional record for posterity. Senator harkin and i have been a duo from our home state of iowa for a long period of time. His voice is familiar, so is his point of view, so is his work ethic for the people of iowa. Hes been a champion for individuals with disabilities, for the elderly, for Early Childhood education and nutrition and wellness, for conservation, reNewable Energy, and the environment. We could go on and on about his passions for these causes and many others. Senator harkins legislative accomplishments are numerous. He leaves a lasting body of work that improves the quality of life for people who dont always have high profiles in the halls of congress. One of senator harkins greatest legacies is his ability to translate his drive and his passion into legislative accomplishments. As the saying goes, he doesnt just talk the talk, he walks the walk. Senator tom harkin lives and breathes the causes important to him. And the United States and americans have a better quality of life because of it. It will be a new era when the senate doesnt see him rising to speak in his characteristic fiery delivery, and it may not have been so fiery today, but he did speak with the emotion about the things that he believes in. Im grateful for his friendship and his long service to the people of iowa and the nation, while ill miss him around the capitol im confident that ill see him at home in iowa. Senator harkin is not one to turn off his enthusiasm for important issues and i feel sure and hes already told us today hell continue his contribution to Public Service wherever and whenever the spirit moves him, and you know by his Statement Today that its already moving him. Hes got plans for the future to continue these crusades. With that in mind, ill say so long rather than goodbye. Thank you. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from michigan. Ms. Stabenow mr. President , first let me start by saying as senator harkin was so eloquently speaking today, it reminded me of a story of those going by the casket of president roosevelt and the reporter stopping someone and saying did you know president roosevelt . And he said no, but he knew me. There are people across this country, people with disabilities, workers, folks trying hard to get up that ladder want to know theres rungs on it or be able to stay in the middle class who may not be able to say they know senator tom harkin personally, but he knows them. And we are so grateful and im personally grateful for your friendship and your leadership and mentorship. And i want to speak just for a moment as chair of the agriculture and nutrition and Forestry Committee where i had to follow the tough act of senator tom harkin writing the previous two farm bills. He has shaped agriculture and food and nutrition policy in the house and senate for 40 years, having a tremendous impact, more than we can even imagine in terms of not only advocating for iowa farmers and i knew every day what iowa needed, thats for sure, and having both senator harkin and senator grassley on the Committee Gave the onetwo punch for iowa. But i have to remind all of my colleagues that senator harkin really is the father of modern conservation, of protecting our water and our soil and our air, our wildlife habitat, our forests. Senator harkin is the father of modern conservation. He wrote the Conservation Stewardship Program that he created in 2002 and expanded on in 2008 and we protected in the last farm bill. An he gave new treng to the farm safety net for all of our growers. He has been at the forefront of an Energy Future that he talked about today, driven by real estate Newable Energy reNewable Energy and moving forward to get us to cleaner sources of energy. That create jobs, as i know is happening in iowa because of your leadership. So we thank you so many things. The fresh fruit and vegetable programs in schools where lowincome schools have an opportunity to eat an apple rather than something out of the vending machine, the opportunity for children to have healthier choices. Senator harkin has led over and over and over again. I could go through every part of our agriculture and food policy improvements that have been made, that have been led by senator tom harkin. And we are so grateful, and you have been a personal mentor for me in the toughest times of getting this last farm bill done. Senator harkin gave me words of advice and wisdom and many times encouragement, and for that i am very, very, very grateful and have learned so much from you. I secondly want to thank you for being a hero for generations of people with disabilities, including people in my own family who have had doors opened because of what you have done. The americans with disabilities act revolutionized the possibilities, the opportunities for people, and it is opportunity its not about giving people something for free, but Opening Doors they still have to walk through, and you have done that in a way that will be with us forever, when you think about how we look at Building Structures and opportunities in workplaces and people who want to work but just need a little different kind of opportunity that now have that. I also know that it was clear and youve talked before about your family and how it shaped your sensibilities and your passions, and i remember your talking about a tworoom house in cumming, iowa, that you shared with your parents and five siblings. Im trying to picture this in two rooms two bedrooms. Oh, thats a little better. Even two bedrooms, thats pretty challenging. But growing up with your brother frank, who i know is going back, gave you an understanding of the obstacles of those with disabilities and a commitment that came from your heart and soul about making it better. And you have, you have. I know also tawngdzed about i know also and you talked about your father when he lost his farm the new deal gave him the opportunity to support you and your family. He had a sixthgrade education, he had created he had the opportunity to move ahead and work hard because somebody out there who didnt know his name gave him an opportunity to do that, which is what is our job to do. So i know that your crusade to protect workers on the job was influenced by witnessing your fathers struggle as well with black lung disease, and that that looking at him as a coal miner and what he went through. I believe, senator harkin, among many things, you have the definition of a selfmade man who grew up, took the opportunities, the challenges, the circumstances and experiences of his life to transform that and use that to create better opportunities for everyone across the country. Youre a patriot, serving in the navy. You earned your education through the g. I. Bill and understand that that is an important part of creating opportunity and giving back to people who give to us and lay their lives on the line for us. And i know that you are totally committed in your heart and soul to education, starting at the birth right on through for the rest of our lives. And so i want to thank you, finally, for your leadership on the help committee, your hard work and your passion on health care, your support in working with me on Mental Health care, your efforts on education, your efforts on pensions, which, by the way, are a promise we need to keep. All of the things that youve done through the help committee are things that will last for a long, long time to come. I know in iowa, thanks to you, there are eight times more Community Health centers than there were 25 years ago. Wow which means somebody can see a doctor. They can take their children to the doctor. Which will live on in their lives. So i want to thank you for being someone who knows thousand make laws, somebody who wants to solve problems, somebody who in his heart and soul is passiona passionately, lovingly concerned about our country, and i know that you and ruth and your daughters and your grandchildren will have many, many more opportunities to enjoy our life; but know there are people in this life who are enjoying an opportunity because of you, and we say [signing i love you] thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander senator harkins legacy is secure. He is the champion of the americans with disabilities. There will be a long time before there is a greater chafn champif the americans with disabilities. I salute him for that. I salute him for his style of leadership. I had the privilege o of serving as Ranking Member of the help committee. If you know our committee, down one row is a row of liberals and progressives of the democrat persuasion. Down the other side are a the republican persuasion. 12 on this side. 10 on this side. So wref plenty of difnses of opinion and we dont hesitate to express. Yet during these two years, snore harkins leadership time has found way for there to be 24 pieces of legislation signed by the president of the United States, many of them very significant, several of which took years to do. Whether it was the compounding pharmacy, so important in our state. The tragedy of men inmeningitis us from unspairl products. Whether it was the changes in Workforce Development that gave more discretion to governors and citizens in their communities, his style of leadership permitted that to happen. I am grateful to him for that. I would suggest to the senate that as we look forward to a time when the senate might be more functional, more productive, that one way to earn the respect of the people of this country for this body, which is supposed to be the one authentic piece of genius in the american political system, is look at the way that the health, education, labor, and Pensions Committee has operated for the last two years under the leadership of senator harkin. I salute him for his service, and i thank him for that. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Mr. Franken i rise to talk about senator harkin. Soontobe chairman senator alexander has left. He is right about the help committee. It is an important committee. It is not that important unless you care about your health, your parents health, your kids education, if you want to work the rest of your life or plan to retire. Other than that, it is not very upon. But i want to talk a little bit about tom harkin, not as a senator but as a staffer. You know, we weve seen today when the senators give their final speeches talk about their staff. And tom gave in 1969 as a staffer for neal smith from io iowa. And the staffers, as much as we treasure our staffers, they love this work for their member, and they love working in this institution, and they love working in congress. At this point he was in the house. And so he is, i believe, 29, 30 years old at this point. This is during the vietnam war. And there was a thing called vietnamization. And president nixon asked a congressional delegation to go to vietnam to look at how vietnamization was working. And what was going on. And while tom harkin was there as a staffer, a couple of congressmen were told about some conditions on an island konsan where there were some people of the South Vietnamese government that the South Vietnamese government was abusing very badly. And the congressmen requisitions a plan to go to konsan, which is about 100 miles off the coast of the mainland of vietnam, and i believe that the kind of the supervisor of the group was there to talk about the vietnam prison system. He said, this is sort of like a boy scout recreational camp. Thats exactly what he said. So when they landed there, tom took a couple of staffers and members, got a map from someone who had told him about this secret prison, and found it, where there were people being horriblely abused. And tom took pictures of it. And tom was told to turn over the film. And tom didnt turn over the film. And tom was then told that his employment in congress depended on him turning over that film. A 30yearold staffer at the beginning of what most staffers hope is a career. That film showed up in look magazine look . Life and had a profound effect and toms career was ov over. That takes a lot of guts. That takes courage, that takes the courage of your convictions. And thats what ive seen in tom harkin. I learned about this when frannie and i went with ruth and tom on a codel to vietnam. Ive just had just spoke about carl levin. I talked about codel with him. Ill talk about this codel with tom. I got to go on more codels, i just figured out. And this is what i observed because this is the chairman of the help committee. And i got to watch that courage and that courage of his convictions, as well as lamar talked about working well across party lines. And, you know, i hold the seat that Paul Wellstone held. And tom, i would say, was pauls best friend. And tom often talks or every once in a while talks about his brother, and that was behind that experience was behind toms signature achievement, the americans with disabilities act. Paul wellstone was about talked and led on Mental Health and Mental Health parity, and that was because of his brother. And i see that as part of the legacy of pauls that i want to carry on. And i havent had paul here to be a model, but ive had tom harkin. And its been a privilege. Thank you. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Ms. Klobuchar mr. President , we are going to continue now with in this minnesota theme, and i think that senator harkin knows that our two states, minnesota and iowa, share more than just a border. We share a lot of people with relatives in either side of the border,ia i cant tell you how many of my friends have their roots in iowa and how many people in iowa i know have their kids in minnesota. We also share citizens that have a strong sense of involvement. We have some of the highest voter turnouts in the country, we both have notorious caucus systems where people like to turn out and make their views known, and our states have produced politicians like tom harkin and Hubert Humphrey that came up through that transition, that understand that you are there to represent the people of your state because when you go home, they kelly, actually, come up to you in grocery stores, on the street, call you by your first name and understand that you are there to represent them. We also share farming and we share this enormous belief in science. We actually share norman bor borlack. Theres a new statute, you must go see it in the statuary hall, who studied at iowa but also studied at the university of minnesota and created the green revolution helping impoverished people all over the world to eat and save so many lives by representing to reduce hunger. Tom harkin has followed in that transition, hes someone that believes in science, believes in investing in agricultural research, believes in investing in n. I. H. The other thing about tom and i that i just knew no other senator would address is our slovenian heritage. When tom leaves with the former ohio senator, i see senator voinovich also gone, i will remain, i think, as the only slovenian senator here. Im hoping someone will come forward and tell me that they have slovenian blood. But for a while 3 of the United States senate had roots in slovenia which is very interesting given how infinitesimal the population of the country is compared to the rest of the world. Tom loves his slovenian roots. Like tom, my ancestors came to america to work in the mines. It is a big part of our lives and what we believe in. And one time tom actually came to my minnesota morning breakfast and saw that every thursday i serve patitza to my constituents and that is something that the slovenians, are unique to them and its the rolled dough, my grandma would make it, she would literally borrow card tables and roll this doug he doe through, dough through her kitchen. I found places that make this and we brought it in. Tom tried it and he decided he was going 0 to send a patitza to every member of the United States senate for christmas. En went back to his office and called me a few hours later and said i found out they dont make it in iowa. I said let me give you the name of a baker on the iron range. He personally called this woman and said this is tom harkin. I am the senator from iowa, im calling to order 100 patitzas from you, and in a gruff slovenian fashion she said im sorry, its christmas, and were booked and we do not have the patitzas to send to washington, d. C. He said i dont know who i am, i chaired the agriculture and Forestry Committee of understand the. She said i know exactly who you are but we do not have the patitzas to send to washington. He called me, there are a number of other bakers. He found one, every senator got a patitza for christmas. The last thing i would say we share in common are states that believe in helping people that are the most vulnerable. Did he that with his support for Small Farmers with the farm bill. He did that in his support for the disability community, and i will say that i was just this week over at the house talking about the able act with some of the members, and to a t every republican brought up because tom couldnt be there, toms work on the able act, the house members, because they knew we wouldnt have that bill that senator casey worked on without tom harkin. As you know, this is just the next step for the disability community, allowing parents and grandparents and friends and neighbors to set up funds so if theyre not there, when this young person grows up there will be money set aside for them. Tom harkin was Paul Wellstones best friend in the United States senate. And paul was always about in his words, politics is about improving peoples lives. Thats what tom has done every day in the United States senate. Thank you, tom. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from connecticut. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. President. Very briefly, in january of last year i walked on the the flat fiscal year for the second time in my life. The first time was in 1995 when i was an intern for senator chris dodd. Then it was easier for interns to come down here and brought me to the senate floor one afternoon. I knew what i wanted to do. I a had a small handful of people i wanted to meet. I dont know if ive told this to tom, but i wanted to meet tom harkin and i got to do that. He was 20 years ago a giant in the senate, and the one point i want to make sheer is this ive gotten the chance to serve with tom on the help committee and seen his legislative abilities, seen the respect that he commands here. But ive only known him for two years, and so the point that i want to make is the effect that he has had on the legislative process stands as an a achievement in and of itself, but i am one of i would argue tens of thousands of Public Servants who decided to go into this line of work, decided to care about the kind of things that i care about because i watched tom harkin on tv growing up. Because i came from a family that was nonpolitical. My parents were registered republicans. Theres no genetic reason why i do this, but i got to see people like tom fight on behalf of the disabled and the disenfranchised and the dispossessed and gave me an idea there was some worth being in a business which if you grew up after vietnam you were just taught was crooked or not worth being a part of and and then there were a handful of people like tom harkin who told you it was worth being a part of. So the legacy that senator harkin will have whether its the farm bill, the americans with disabilities act, the investment act, thats all you need to leave this place fulfilled, but to think there are tens of thousands of people like me who are doing this kind of work, who are trying to keep up the legacy that you are going to leave, thats something to be really proud of as well. I feel lucky that i get to be a member of this body in part because i got to meet tom harkin 20 years ago because i got to follow his lead because i got to be inspired by him. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. Tom harkin is my hero. Tom harkin has never shied from a fight when it comes to workers rights. Workers in this country, to be sure workers in iowa, workers in this country, workers around the world, he has come to many of us repeatedly saying dont forget what our obligation is to the community of men and women around the world who labor with their hands, who fight challenges every day, who are abused in the workplace, who are abused as children in the workplace and tom harkin has been the single strongest voice for as long as i can remember for those workers. And tom comes from a right to work state. Its not always easy to stand up for labor unions, to stand up for organized labor. We have a press in this country, a media in this country which is antilabor consistently, nationally, consistently, we have a Political Class in this country that at every opportunity tries to undermine organized labor and undermine the rights of human beings to organize and bargain collectively. One of the most important rights that tom has recognized that human beings have that tom harkin from a righttowork state knowing that he will face a difficult election, darn near every six years, one of the little noted historical facts about tom harkin which ive heard nobody mention is senator harkin has defeated more incumbent members of congress than any elected official in United States history. And thats not because of the luck of the draw or some lottery in des moines or iowa city or davenport. Thats because tom harkin doesnt shy away from his strong beliefs in the rights of humanity in organizing, in collective bargaining rights and when youre willing to stand up day after day, not just in quiet groups in the Democratic Caucus but when youre willing to stand up on this floor, youre willing to stand up in dubuque and the more conservative parts of southwest iowa and argue for labor rights, youre just saying to the other side bring them on, bring on big money, bring on antilabor forces, expect to have tough elections. Thats why tom harkin is my hero and always will be. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley i, too, rise to share a few comments about my colleague tom harkin who has contributed so much to this fight to put rungs on the ladder so ordinary people have a fair shot across america, a fair shot to thrive. And when i first came out here as an intern in 1976, you were already over on the house side no, not yet, were you . 7 1974 and was already over working away and so i didnt get to meet you then. But there were a series of speeches by senators, i was an intern here on the the senate side and one was by Hubert Humphrey. Hubert humphrey was, well, known for saying a society should be judged by how they treat those in the dawn of their life, children, the twilight of their life, seniors, and in the shadows, those who are sick and disabled. And when i think of that vision, i see tom harkin. I see tom harkin fighting for children who are pressed into work around the world under unacceptable circumstances and carrying a fight for those children, for Childrens Health care, i see him fighting for our seniors and just this week speaking passionately about the obligations we have to honor the retirement strategy so people can serve their senior years in dignity. And fighting for those who are disabled that weve heard about so much today. And so i want to thank you, tom harkin, for taking your years on this planet and dedicating dedicating them to this battle for those in the dawn of their life and in the twilight and in the shadows. No one has done a better job. And i want to thank you for just those recent battles that ive had a chance to be a little bit a part of, the fight to end discrimination in the workplace for Lgbt Community that you shepherded through your committee and got to the floor for the first time that this bill has been on the floor since 1996 and it proceeded to get passed by a 21 bipartisan majority because of that Firm Foundation laid in committee. And i want to thank you for your minimum wage bill and for saying to america, here is a vision that no one who works full time should live in poverty. That is absolutely right. And we didnt win the battle over minimum wage, but we advanced the conversation. You advanced the conversation. Thank you for doing so, for carrying battle after battle and in so many cases succeeding and in those cases when the circumstances werent yet all lined up you continued the fight, you carried the voice and so that we would find that moment in the future when we could secure a victory for ordinary working people, for those who are disabled, for our children, for our seniors. Thank you for service in the senate. Well done. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from delaware. Mr. Carper the senator from oregon thanked tom for his service in sentence. I would like to to thank him before. When we were kids not exactly, when we were in the United States navy. In airplane, not the same airplane but roughly at the same time. People come town hall meeting me and thank me for my service in the navy and im sure they do that with you and i tell them i loved him. I loved the men and women i served with, an honor to do that. But i want to start off by thanking you for that. One of the bonds that has drawn us together as friends right from the start, right from the start. The senator from oregon mentioned the minimum wage your strong efforts on behalf of raising the minimum wage which ultimately were not successful but i want to mention a couple of things that ive had the privilege of working with you on that have been i think really successful and theres a battle that needs to be fought and i plan to dont to do that and my hope in other ways youll do it, too. As veteran as veterans, i know how important the g. I. Bill was for me. I think we got about 250 from the g. I. Bill then. I went to move from california to the university of delaware, got an m. B. A. Flew with the navy reserves. It was a huge, huge help to me. Folks that get the g. I. Bill today, they come back from afghanistan or iraq or wherever, serve for three years, they get full tuition. You go to university of iowa, university of delaware, delaware state, iowa state, they get free tuition, free books, fees, tutoring. In my state, 1,500 a month housing allowance. Thats the g. I. Bill. And there are a bunch of colleges around the country, just like they did when my dad came back from world war ii, my uncle came back from the korean war, there are scam artists who are post secondary schools, training schools, sometimes colleges that see the g. I. With that benefit and they see, like its a dollar sign on their back and they want to go after the dollar sign and separate the veteran from their benefit. And you have worked this so hard, trying to make sure there are plenty of forprofit post secondary schools that do a good job. They do a good job of the and there are some that dont. Anand nobody has been after them in trying to make sure we clean this up than you, and my friend from illinois, dick durbin. I have been pleased to be your wingman on this. I promise you that dick durbin and i arent going away. We salute the effort efforts. I want to salute you for standing up for the vrntse veted your staff on this. Many children are eating lufnlg lunch right now. If they d go into a restaurant,a chain restaurant where there are 15 or more chain restaurants, i think it is 15 or 20, when they order, they look at the menu and they see right there calories and information about sates, sodium, whatever. In the food, they get it. And were a nation where obesity is a huge problem, a huge cost driver in health care, and i want to thank you for leading that leading the charge on menu labeling, which is a reality in our country. And you should feel and i feel really good about that. Its ban blessing knowing you and serving you. Youre having a lot of flattery here today. Dont breathe too deeply and you should be okay. We thank and salute. In the navy when people have done a really good job, we say words like bravo zulu. I say fair winds to the sea. God bless you. Mr. Durbin next to the state of illinois, ive spent more time campaigning in your state of iowa than any other state. Obviously the president ial caucuses have brought me over there and ive come to know your home state of iowa and also to appreciate that even though theres an extraordinary Iowa Democratic organization, it is a tough state, and there are elections when they are hotly contested. I can recall when i was running for the senate in 1996, you called into our headquarters, suffolk mspoke to my campaign md said, how is it going, senator . And i said, i am besieged. You survived it and many others. It is because of two things. One is your dogged determination and, number two, your commitment to values that youve never given up on. I think theres an authenticity to tom harkin that has saved you in tough years. People who disagreed with you respected you because you stood up for what you believed in. Some of the things you and i believe in may not be as fashionable politically as they once were. There was one a tim once a timei worked for a man called paul douglas who called himself a good liberal. You dont hear that anymore, do you . There are moments in our nations history and in the lives of ordinary people where e the American Family through our government need to step in and help. And youve done it, youve done it so many times. I wont repeat all thats been said, but whether you were fighting for working families, fighting for the poor, fighting for the disabled, fighting to make sure every family had peace of mind when it came to food safety you and i worked on that i want to thank you for that leadership and that inspiration. And finally, let me just say that ive been happy to team up with you on this issue involving forprofit schools. I will tell you that your hearings have set a standard in terms of asking the right questions and hard questions of an industry that by and large exploits young people and their families, sinking these kids deep in debt at the expense of american taxpayers and doing it many times with the promise of nothing but a worthless di dipla when it is all over. I know because ive tried, that the industry, the forprofit colleges have friends in high places in washington, d. C. , and i can promise you this as long i can do it physically, i will continue to wage this battle in your name and in your memory because of all your leadership in this area. Thank you for being a friend. Thank you for being a neighbor. And thank you for eelly standing up for the right causes over the course of your Public Service. Mr. Sanders mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Sanders im going to be brief. The truth of the matter is that the gentleman we are honoring right now, tom harkin, will go down in history as one of the great senators of this particular period in american history. Not many senators, if any, have a list of enormous accomplishments anywhere close to what senator harkin has accomplishmenaccomplished. It turns out that, coincidentally, really, i have strastletraveled with senator hn around the world to congressional delegations. Like most congressional delegations, we meet with the leaders of the country, the president s and so forth. But what was interesting in traveling with senator harkin, wherever you go, you gets honored by ordinary people in those countries. We were to vietnam a number of years ago, and many people will not remember, but the truth is that one of the very first people ever to expose the terrible prison conditions that the South Vietnam government had established was tom harkin. So we go there, we meet people who are have been imprisoned in tiger cages, and they said, senator harkin, thank you very much for exposing those conditions and improving our lives. Very emotional response. Then i go with him to georgia id it turns out that in ghana and countries in africa, tom harkin had been a leader in fighting against child labor, that you had kids who were eight or nine years of age who should be in school who were out picking crops. And tom harkin, working with people all over the world had a real impact in getting those kids into school. And we went to a school, a beautiful school, which is partially funded by the United States government, where we in bright kids who were in school, and we were so proud, and prouder of the assistance that we had given them, where they were in school and not working in fields. And then i go to chile, go to chile, and we meet with the president of chile. We meet all the dignitaries of chile. Well, who knew . We go to chile, and tom harkin gets an award from the government there today because, in the very, very dark days of the pinochet government, when the democratically elected president of chile was overthrown in a violent coup by pinochet, which, unfortunately, the assistance of the United States, and people are rounded up and put into prison camps and tortured and killed, tom harkin goes knocking on the door to one of the prison camps, goes knocking on the door. Pretty crazy. But thats what he did. And hes met with soldiers with guns, but he exposed that particular prison camp and played a role in facilitating the ending of some of the more barbaric actions of the pinochet government. Those are thrie trips three tre with him. Im sure there are others. Then back home, you know, in terms of disability issues, i can remember and others can remember 30, 40, 50 years ago families had kids born with disabilities, and often those kids were institutionalized, they were hidden, they were an embarrassment to the family. I had a kid with a disability, downs syndrome, whatever it may be. Think of the revolutioniz revol. Cidz sitting in classrooms loved and respected by their fellow students, educating their fellow students, making their fellow students more human, more compassionate, and i think many of us on the floor have been to grad waitionz, high school graduations, where kids with disabilities get their award and people stand up and applaud those kids. Well, that transformation of the culture in how we deal with people with disabilities, and the american disability act didnt happen by accident. Tom harkin wasnt the only person that did it but he helped lead the effort here in the United States congress to say, you know what . People are disabilities are part of the human community, and were going to treat them with dignity, the dignity that they deserve. And he had all the other issues that people have talked about. Probably nobody in the congress has been a figh stronger fighter working people and organized labor than tom harkin. So i think, you know, people come here regardless of political persuasion to try to make a difference and th and dot they think is right. We disagree about whats right. But i think when you look at the list of accomplishments and the enormously hard work that has gone into those accomplishments while this man, tom harkin, will go down as one of the great senators of our period. So, tom, thank you so much for all that youve done. Mr. Inhofe mr. President . The presiding officer the sno rt from oklahoma. Mr. Inhofe parliamentary inquiry. It is my understanding that we were to begin at 12 00 for three hours until the First Amendment on the ndaa and that now will begin, it looks like, an hour later; is that correct . The presiding officer under the previous order, there will now be three hours of debate with one hour each from the senator from oklahoma, mr. Coburn, and the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, and with 30 minutes each for the senators from alaska, ms. Murkowski, and the senator from oklahoma, mr. Inhofe, or their designees. Mr. Inhofe thank you, mr. President. And before the senator from iowa leaves, let me just make one comment, and that is, i look at him and all of those who are saying nice things about the senator from iowa now, see, im from iowa, so i can say this. You got to remember that, senator harkin. That even conservatives can love tom harkin. I think it is important that people need to understand that. I have to say, mr. President , that i have been to, i think, at least 10 of the air shows and spending 90 of my time, my wife and his wife and the four of us together because were both pilots. You sit around and talk about airpts. Yo you sit around and talk abt airplanes. There is one thing i want to say to senator sanders. The two of you are two of my favorite intheheart liberals because youre not ashamed of it. You stand up exactly what senator sanders just said. And the the things that ive seen you do, you have a big harkts you have your own philosophy, you are alternate youre not a demagogue. You live your philosophy. There are a lot of republicans that love senator harkin just as much as the liberals do. All right. Thank you. Mr. President , what i think ill do, we should have started with nor levin and myself takin kickt o i think we were a little bit late in starting. Senator levin will be here in 30 minutes. Let me make one comment will senator levin. This person, chairing these committees and hes been through 16 of the ndaas in the past. No one else can say that. No other member has ever done that. And over his 36 years of service, hes concentrated on his concern for the defense of america. This is interesting because, as the Ranking Member on the senate Armed Services committee, he and i had have worked together. We even participated in two of the events called the big four. Now, the chair knows this, but some of my colleagues may not. When this comes time in the committees were unable to pass a bill, then the Ranking Member and the chairman of the house and rank member in the senate get together and draft a bill. Thats what happened this year and last year. Las last year i was getting panicky because we didnt pass that bill until december 26. And what would have happened if we didnt, then it would be a crisis on december 3 1sst. 31st. So i want to say this about senator levin, how ive enjoyed, and i regret we wont be able to have the same positions because, of course, senator levin, like our friend from iowa, is retiring after this term. Let me just mention that the ndaa bill is the most important bill that we do every year. I dont th