how do you address the negative equity? >> i want to be clear. a diagnosis is not always lead you to very clear treatment. >> i understand that you are with the cato institute. you are great at math and i would respect having you give me an opinion. i may not agree with that. >> one of e things i think is a positive, i believe we are through most of -- >> my time is already up so i had to have you go straight to the negative equi but how would you address the negative equity? >> first my point is we are turning up in the housing market which i homeowners some incentives to stay in it here to deal with negative equity directly in terms of if you do a payment modification as part of the owner, i am not sure how you deal with negative equity without basically given m owner equity. >> and is it your contention that weird dealing with negative

equity? >> i don't believe it is that you're not necessarily putting the owner in a position where they have equity because even most of -- >> now i'm going to put you in an uncomfortable position. you can handle it. but do you agree then that if the loan is modified such that negative equity is addressed, that there is a greater likelihood that the borrower can pay the loan? >> actually i don't think the negative equity is a situation that has the ability for the borrower to pay the loan. it is has the incentive for the borrower to stay in the home. . .

you need and unemployment insurance which doesn't count for that. it is important to remember a cramdown would not work for people whose marry problem is umployment. >> exactly that is off the table. >> even as the cramdown is structured -- >> not talk about it as structured let's talk about a cramdown, i don't like the term cramdown. >> modification a bankruptcy. a bankruptcy that allows structuring such that a person who can pay, that's what we're talking about. >> sure. >> so that people won't get confused everybody is just going to run in and get bankruptcy, and they're going to benefit from it, notwithstanding the inability to pay.

you made a good int. given that they pay, would this give them greater incentive to make their payments? >> it all depends on -- >> now you just said if a person, if a negative equity is dealt with with, that uld give the person greater incentive to pay. >> i appreciate that. my point is that modifications up until now whether you look second homes or look at investment properties they do not leave the person with equity. they leave them with zero equity because they cram down the amount of mortgage to the value of house which means you have zero equity. even under the previous proposals for modification there is nquit that is given. so i'm only basing this off the other examples that have we talked about with modification. >> i understand. if they modify such that there is equity, such that the person can now make payments does the have greater incentive? this is pursuant to what you have in your paper. >> for small number of people that fall into that. >> any number is that true? >> for any number of people that would fall into that category that would provide them greater incentive, yes. >> my fine question to the

other, if i may, madam chair. may have one? >> yes you may. >> thank you. my final question for those of you in the modification business, tell me if you agree that allowing bankruptcy will provide a means by which persons, let's assume they have tried everything that is available, without success. and, they do file for bankruptcy, would this knowledge that bankruptcy is an option, would the knowledge of a bankruptcy as an option, not you, but would it help some servicers to, to realize that maybe i can do a little bit more than i have been doing? and i'm trying to be as kind as i can saying this because i don't want to create problems for people who are trying to do a job, you're all are. but let's start with the bank of america representatives.

would this, would this help some servicers and some, some investors to see that maybe we do have a little more late you stood than we think we have in trying to modify some of these loans? b-of-a? >> i can't really speak for all the other servicers. i can only speak for bank of america. a threat of bankruptcy would not change our policies onifications to keep, people in homes. we want, it is in our best interest, shareholders best interests public's best interest to do everything we can to make modifications now for people able, reasonably able and willing with. so i don't think that the threat of bankruptcy would change our posture at all what kind of modifications. >> my suspicion your colleagues wou say a similar thing. if anyone would differ, in terms of banks, jp, boston, if you would differ raise your hand. if you don't differ, i won't bother to ask you the question.

so nobody differs. no hands up. the record reflect. which gets to the point i would like to make. the bank, the servicers are not going to change. they will continue to do what they're doing. if we know what they will continue to do that what they're doing and we have eight million homes that may go into foreclosure next four years. we have to do something different. we can not allow all that we have done to try to revive the economy, to stablize the economy, to, become the sole province of servicers, who are not going to change their, their met of operation. i respect what you want to do and what you're trying to do. but, at some point, those of us who are in the arena, who have to make these tough calls, we are going to have to make another call and give people another option just as you have with your second home, your third home,

your fourth home. just as you have with your auto payment. just as you have with the farm loan. all ofhese options are available to people, except the lowly person who can't afford a second home, third home, fourth home. who can't afford a farm. who may not have a fine car to drive. but has something called a primary residence that he or she or they, they're trying to protect. these people need help too. that's what we've got to look at. appreciate where you are. and i thank each of you. my time has expired. thank you, madam chair. >> thank you very much. before i dismiss the panel, i'd like to just share with you, recognize myself, to share with you some of the lessons i have learned as i have worked very closely with my staff in learning how to contact servicers, how to work with servicers. and i get waivers from my

constituents who are trying to seek se help. d i get on the telephone with servicers, and my constituents and i walk through the process. so i know a lot about. i've not yet encountered a situation where the documentation, for income, and debt was not require on a loan modifibation, and i going to take a look at the ones that were, were not handled that way, and i will be in conta directly with you about them, since you have testified a bit differently here today about how you're doing some of that. the other thing that i have encountered is this. some of the big servicers, big banks, have bought up these loans from other small mortgage companies, along

the way. and clearlyhere's fraud. you hire lawyers to do foreclosures. how many of you hire lawyers to deal with fraud when you see it? wells, fargo, have you, your servicers encountered some of mortgages that are clearly fraudulent where the signatures have been falsified, a lot of income falsefications, that was clearly not true. what do you do with that kind of information if you encounter it? >> if we do encouer loans that definity, you know come to our attention that have had fraudulent behavior, yes we do bring that to the attention.

unfortunately many of the companies who originated those loans are out of business. and, number two, i will tell you that -- >> should the homeowner, you bought the loan. >> right. >> when bought the loan from this mortgage company, you had to vet it, you had to look at it to see what you were buying, right? well, maybe you didn't. >> not loan by loan. >> not loan by loan. you bought packages. so if you see fraudulent loans where the homeowner has been basically defrauded, what do you do? how can you help that homener? >> i think one of the things that is toughest to do to determine where the fraud came. >> well, i found some of the i know where they came from. it is very clear. it came from the persons you bought them from. >> but stated income, stated asset, which is where some of those loans that we acquired, determining the fraud. >> well, but i have somewhere someone said, that is not my signature.

i didn't sign that. >> that would will be hard to determine. >> no it wouldn't. all right. so let's look at another kind of fraud that i have run into. well, it is not fraud really. let me look at another case. i have constituents who need a loan modification, and they are earning the same amount of mon at the time that they request a loan modification as they were earning when they got into the loan, when you accepted them into the loan. it is no different. you accepted them into the loan, what appears to be a lack of adequate income to service that mortgage. they discover along the way that they can not service that mortgage. it may be a reset, what have you, but then, they're asking for a modification, and they're told, you don't have enough income, but they

had enough income when they got the mortgage, what do you do about that? bank of america, have you, encountered those? have any of you done loan modifications? how many people have actually done a loan modification? what do you do when you encounter someone wse income is exactly the when they request a loan modification, as it was when they signed on the dotted line for the mortgage? and now you're saying to them, you don't qualify, you don't make enough money, how do you make that decision? >> first of all we don't compare really what they were making at origination. comment about them not having enough money -- >> i beg your pardon. >> we don't make careon origination time. fha program is set up to say, how many income they have, 31% to debt income ratio. >> forget about the 1%. >> okay. - >> miss jonesad an income

of $3,000 a month. she got a home that cost half million doll@rs. she couldn't afford the loan then and she certainly can't afford it now. it has reset. same income. what do you do? >> can she not afford the new modified payment if we reduce the payment down to her lev of income to make it affordable? can she not afford that payment. >> no. what you're telling her she you can't modify it because she doesn't make enough money to get modification. >> since fha program allows interest rates as low as 2%, 40-year terms with bear rans up to 30% -- >> you think you can work something out for her. >> for the vast, vast majority of the customers we should have an offer for her. but have to understand the particular circumstances but definitely the program has very nice low floors for interest rates, and forbearance amount should make payment affordable for vast majority of the people. >> i'm going to call you

about some that we have worked on that fit into that category. >> all right. >> the other thing that i wanted to ask you about is, i think you did refer to, what miss capit alluded to when you said you do forbearance in order to provide assistance to homeowners who have no income, or little income or maybe just unemployment and they need some time. wells fargo, both you and bank of america and chase, you guys all say that you help these people with forbearance, is that right? >> right. >> i'm going to call you directly on the ones thate have that have been turned down. now, one last question i want to ask it has been said that it is

more profitableo not do a foreclosure in some cases, than to do a foreclosure. i think miss cohen? miss cohen you were the one that tried to explain to us how servicers rush to foreclosure rather tha thannificati because it is not in their best interest to do it. would you explain that one more time. >> sure, thank you. when a homeowner stops making payments on the loan, the servicer istill required to advance those payments to the investors, and so, one of the challenges for servicers is to figure out how to finance those advances because they're generally financed and how to get the money back to pay back the financing. and when you result in a foreclosure, in general, the

pulling and servicing agreements allow the servicer to get paid back first from the foreclosure before thenvestors get any money. so the servicer gets paid back faster, and in a more sure way from the foreclosure, when there is a loan modification, the investors still have priority in general. they don't get paid first the servicer doesn't get paid first. and the servicer has a way of recovering the money but it is not assure and not as fast. >> okay. so let me just ask, miss sheehan, chase home lending, jpmorgan chase. ar you as servicers advancinging payments to the investor? >> yes, we will do, but i will say for jpmorgan chase we do not need financing for our advances. we have a strong capital base. and it is not in our interest to rush to

foreclosure. it is not economic if the loan is, you know, positive from a net present value perspective. whether we own the loan, or whether we service the loan. because for our investors, we have an obligation to do the thing that is best for the investor. >> wells fargo, are you advancing the payments, the mortgage paymes to the investors also? >> yes, we are. and i wouldoncur with all of miss sheehan's comment. we also have a very strong balance sheet. we are not looking for refinancg and foreclosure is never a better option. >> is this strong balance sheet because of the citizens investment in your banks, and your bailouts? >> no. wells fargo has been a aaa bank and we have a strong balance sheet. >> you did get money from the bailout. >> tarp funds? yes. >> how much did you receive.

>> 20? >> 20 billion. >> 25 billion. >> 25 billion. you didn't need it? >> we're working to return the funds. >> but you didn't need it when you got it. >> no. >> you took it. they made you take it. >> yes. >> okay. have any of you found that it is in your best interest to foreclose, raer than to hold out and do a modification? is there ever a time? yes, sir. >> miss she hand addressed -- sheehan addressed this. marking of the affordable home program, it has calculation, net present value. tries to determine whether it is better to foreclose on the property or actually dot modification. vast majority of the customers it is better to do modification. there are case it is the customer has a lot of equity

in the property and if the person can afford a very small payment, where cost of interest cost to give up is greater than the cost of actually foreclosure. it making it more sense for the investor to foreclose on the property, administration built into the program protection for investors to make sure it is something aligns consumers interest and investors interest. yes there are cases where it makes more sense to foreclose. but i would like to come back to the point miss cohen made earlier which i think is simply inaccurate, as far as we were talking about capitalizing third party fees in the foreclosure process. the statement was made if you capitalize third party fees that will actually increase the payme amount customer has to make on modification. just doesn't work that way. for the, yes indeed you can have capitalized third party fees, as y'all are probably aware. mha program forces to you calculate 31% of the person's income. and that becomes the payment amount. payment is same whether you

capitalize $2,000 of the fees or you haven't and difference is, interest rate will go down. if you have capitalized fees, then the investor will receive a lower interest rate and borrower be in the exact same situation as as far as payment at under the mha program whether the fees are capitalized or not. >> can i respond to that. >> yes. >> there are couple issues, one i said, if the fees are capitalized and principal is higher, when the computer crunches the numbers, some homeowners are less likely to get, sort of an out come from the computer that says, that, the modification is more profitable to the investor than the foreclosure. i mean it is all related to the net prent value calculation. so that is sort oone issue. i also want to say that, every time i'm in a meeting in washington the representatives of the servicers tell us what their policies are, they tell us that foreclosures are never profitable but i have

ample after example of these servicers, and others saying, wells fargond bank of america yo have to give a payment before we gi you modification. bank of america, you need to be in default. chase, a person called five times in the last week and could not find one person to give them a hamp loan modification. an attorney general, attorney, called our office and said, that chase is the biggest non-compliant, ham servicer when it comes to actual rponsiveness. wells fargo, we'll give you six months forerans with a balloon and then we'll consider to you a hamp loan modification. over and over again, what is happening on the ground does not comport with what these people are saying until they are pushed in a mandatory fashion nothing is going to change. >> can i make a couple comments, chairman waters? >> yes. >> forbearance there is balloon at end of it, what we're looking for end of 6

to 12 month period they still have a obtain a job. as was stated earlier you can not do modification on someone who does not have a job. so there is, and that is communicated and made clear. i think there is also a point to your constituents i think is most important and i'll come back to the positive is, we call early and often to these borrowers who go delinquent immediately because we know thatter we work with them, we can avoid these fees. >> hold right there. because, i think miss cohen said something that had been true in the past. that was some of you have policies, you have to be delinquent before you even talk to them about a modification. two months, is that still something that you practice? >> no. >> nobody practices that anymore? when did you stop? >> i don't know that we ever did. >> oh, yes you did. >> we have people might have sted that b it is not in our policy and procedures to somebody they must go delinquent. >>et me stop right here. bank of are america are you

saying you never had a policy where you had to be in default at least by two months before a loaning modification could be considered? >> no, i'm not saying that. i said with mha we now have unit default standard makes it clear if you actually n not afford your payment, you're current you can still qualify for the mortgage. you have to go you there the process. there not a clear imminent default standard prior to mha. very uneven treatment of people before. absolutely acknowledge that. much easier to get a acknowledgement if you were 60 days delinquent than current. we didn't have a policy customers to go delinquent. is it is certainly possible someone found that -- >> i found that with bank of america working on these loan modifications. since i talk you, why does bank of america do so few loan modifications? why is your percentage of loan modifications so much

lower than everybody else he is. >> talking about mha modifications -- >> i'm just talking about modifications. >> talking about modifications in general i'm saying number ares not lower than anybody else. numbers you're looking at are the mha modification. everybody would agree at least servicers at this table better view of modification activity would include all the moddifications banks are doing today. if you look at some of the written testimony coming out from chase, bank of america and wells, reference other modifications we're doing. chase referenced 89,000 modifications they did not mha. those are in the in the numbers. wells referenced 226,000 loans, qualified for or modified. they're not mha numbers. and bank of america has 225,000 that are modifications people qualified that are not in the mha numbers. we appreciate the committee's focus on mha numbers obviously that is what taxpayer money is being spent at that is what oversight is about. if you want a full appreciation for how we're

helping people stay in homes we do believe you should look at overall modifications efforts and our numbers will look much better if you look at overallodifications versus simply what we've done so fainha wrap-up. >> i recognize this is voluntary program. and you can as few or as many as ou would like. why are you doing so few mh? >> well again, as just tried to explain it really ramp up period. we doubled our effor just last month. we set a target goal of 125,000 by november 1 which we think we will make. we got a little bit, had a national retention program which i referenced earlier. we wereoing lots of modifications in prior to mha and we made a decision to continue with that program and kind of ramp er the mha program versus holding back customers and putting everything directly in mha. so, that kind of hurt our numbers a little bit because we didn't have the ability to kind of a lift of a new program. already had a existing program. if we think you look out six months from now you find we're fully ramped up.

our numbers will be on mha comparable to industry standards o better. >> how many of you will sport 3451, our, loss mitigation program that helps to direct servicers a bit more than they are directed now? are you familiar with that legislation that i have dueced? no. >> not completely. >> not yet? okay. well, i'd like to thank you all for being here. we've just got to do better with loan modifications. there are several reasons, number one. people just need help, and they want to stay in their homes. secondly, the american citizens have been very generous with the banks, and most of, represent banks, and your servicers also, not only have you gotten bailout money, but, the complaints are just overwhelming about the credit crunch.

the, the, decrease in credit card limits. on and on. the complaints are just, just ongoing. and, we want to do everything that we possibly can to help you to do a better job. we think thatou're missing the mark. i don't have the information here to compare, what you're doing with the president's program as opposed to what you may be doing that may be better or worse, i don't know but i would hope that you would take care to tell us what we can do to help you to do more, to help more people, to have unemployed people, to help people who are the victims of fraud, to make your servicers even more accessible and more

available. it would will be great to see pticularly, the big banks, who are have locations in so many places, to put some of your servicers on the ground. the menus are still difficult to negotiate. when you'ron the telephone. people would like to see some of you, your servicers, face-to-face. you could put some right next to your banking operations so that, servicers could talk with individuals. i'd like youo think about some of these things. think about and take riously what we're saying about, our concern. you heard a lot of discuson about bankruptcy here today. you heard our chairman, who is getting very, very concerned. and i'm hopeful we'll be able to do a lot better than we've been doing. again, without objection, your written statement will be made part of the record, and, the chair notes that

some members may have additional questions for this panel which they may wish to submit in writing. without objection, the hearing recor will remain open for 30 days for members to submit written questions to these witnesses and to place their responses in the record. we do have something to enter into the record that we must do without objection. this is a letter from nid housing counseling agency. thank you so very much for your pience. we went a little bit beyon our normal time and i thank you for engaging us and this panel is now dismissed. [inaudible conversations]

>> we take you live now to capitol hill, as the u.s. senate convenience. today's senator leaders set aside the first three hours for memorial attribute speeches about the late senator t contend. this afternoon senators will debate the nomination of cass sunstein white house budget office regulator. a new senator sworn in, george lemieux, appointed by governor charlie crist to finish the term of republican mel martinez who resigned. now live senate coverage on

the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, we turn to you this moing aware of our insufficiency. we are but burning candles lashed by winds that mock our boasting pride. remind us that human efforts and ingenuity are powerless without you. you alone, o lord, deserve honor and praise for power, glory, and victor belong to you.

infuse our lawmakers with your might. be for them as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. give them such wisdom, lord, that their labors will enable america to stand with freedoms lamp aloft as a beacon of hope forur wld. as our senators tackle today's tasks, make them conscience of their -- conscious of their great heritage of liberty and justice for all. may no weapon that is formed be able to defeat this land we love. we pray in your great name. amen.

the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c, september 10, 2009, to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mark pryo, a senator from the state of arkansas, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd, presidet pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the, the senate will be in a period of morng business until 12:30 today, with the time divided between the twoeaders

or designees. this will give senators an opportunity to pay tribute to senator ted kennedy. following that, cras -- yesterdy cloture vote was invoked in the nomination of cass sunstein. all senators will be notified when the vote on confirmation nomination is scheduled. as a reminder to senators at 2:45 p.m. today, senator designate george lemieux will be sworn in as senator for florida replacing mel mearsz. following disposition -- martinez. following disposition of the sunstein nomination, i had conversation with the floor staff, both democrat and republican, to see if we can move forward to an agreement to proceed to an appropriation bill. senator mcconnell and i have

talked for some time to get as many of these done as we can. we have four done. we have eight to go. mr. president, a freshman senator should be seen not heard should learn and not teach. that's quote from ted kennedy. these are the very first words he spoke on the floor of this chamber. he was hesitant to rise and speak that april day when he said those words. he had been a senator for less than 18 months. the country wastill reeling from president kennedy's death, just months before. the question bore the senate was the civil rights act of 1964. senator kennedy knew he could hold his tongue no longer. he rose to speak because he loved his country. he waited as long as he did to give that maiden speech because he led this institution. in that speech, that maiden speech, he said a senator of his stature a the time should be

seen and not heard. 45 years later, we can hear his great, booming voice. he said that young senators should learn and not teach. who can list all that we learned from his leadership. it was a thrill to work with ted kennedy, for me personally. hes with a friend, a model of public service, and, really, an american icon. he was patriot arc to -- patriarch to both the kennedy family and senate family. today we mourn his loss. there were so many times that the family turned to their uncle teddy for their comfort. at so many critical times in our country's history, america has turned to ted kennedy for the same. we can all remember, as he walked, with a grieving -- with the grieving fit lady at arlington national cemetery. we can remember how he showed his deep love for his broth

that helped him somehow summon the strength to deliver the defining eulogy that he dleferred in new york. we -- delivered in new york. we can remember how he memorialed his nephew. for decades ted kennedy was a rock to his family. it's now left to us to remember the man who helped remember the lives of so many. mr. president, he is very, -- he is a very, very famous man. he would take the subway and people would always come to senator kennedy and i would joke with him, ted, are they coming for me or for you? it was obvious who they were coming for. it was a joke. he was a so goo when he thought you did something well, he would drop a note or give you a call. that really meant a lot to me that he would take the time to do that.

and i've come to learn in what happened since his death, he did that for so many peoe. he didn't have to be a senator. he would do that for anyone he thought deserved pat on the back. i guess it's now up to u to celebrate the senator who helped so many live better lives. i've been a long devotee of the kennedys and an admirer of their service to our nation. as a student at utah state university, i founded the first young democrats club in that -- i did that. i wked. a week before he took office, that is president kennedy, before he took the oath of office, he implored us to ask what we could do for our country, john kennedy sent me a personal letter of thanks. he had won the election. he had not yet been inaugurated

and he sent me a personal her. it is -- letter. it is a few feet from here in my personal office. the lett that he sent me was for the work that i did out west for the campaign. that letter still hangs at the door way of the capitol office, where the three young kennedy brothers served. many times ted would come into my office and stop and look at that letter. many times. and he would always say -- that's his signature indicating that some staff hadn't signed it or some machine hadn't signed it. he was proud that his brother had done what he learned from his brother to do, send these very meaningful letters. he was proud of his brother, ted was, proud of his own work in the western states during the

1960 race and proud that i kept that memento in such a pronent place. president-elect's kennedy's letter was short, but not too short. but it overflowed with optimism. he wrote to me that the coming era would allow us to -- quote -- "make our country an even better place for o citizens to live and strengthen our country's position leadership in the world." end quote. think of getting that letter, mr. president. i was still a student. ted kennedy shared the dream that his brother had, and he nevestopped working to realize it. senator ted kennedy's legacy stands with the greatest, most devoted men and women to serve in these halls. because of ted kennedy, more men and women could become healthy, because of ted kennedy, me men and women could become college stoondz, because of ted kennedy,

more -- college stoondz, because of ted kennedy more minority, women, and immigrants could realize the rights of our founding documents -- the rights of our founding documents promised them. and because of ted kennedy, more americans could be proud of their country. ted kennedy came from ta family of great - came from a family of great wealth and status. he didn't need to work hard for himself, so he chose a life of working hard for others. when he was admitted to the massachusetts bar in 1959, the application asked him to state his main ambition. ted kennedy ansred and i quote -- "public service of this state." end of quote. to quote one of his favorite poems, robert frost verse that rests on his desk here at the senate, that has made all the difference.

ted kennedy's america is one in which all could pursue justice and eoy equality and know freedom. that's ted kennedy. ted kennedy's life was driven by his love of a family that loved him and his brief in a country th believed in him. ted kennedy's dream was one for which the founding fathers fought and which his brothers sought to realize. the liberal lion's mighty roar may fall silent, but his dreams shall never die, mr. president. his older brother killed in world war ii as a pilot going on a mission he volunteered for, going into it recognizing he would probably never come back. his brother, the president, assassinated. his brother, the senator, running for president, assassinated. the liberal lion's mhty roar may now fall silent, but, mr. presiden his dream shall never die.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i, too, would like to speak of our departed colleague, ted kennedy, whose passing was a focus of the nation and who's life was memorialized over the past weeks in so many poignant stories and heartfelt expressions of gratitude and grief. today the senate also grieves not only because he was a friend, but because the senate was so much a part of who he was. and because he became so much a part of the senate, the simplist measure is sheer longevity at the time of his death, ted

could call himself the third longest serving senator in history having served almost one-fifth of the time tt the senate itself has existed. or consider this -- when i was an intern here in the 1960's, ted was already a well-known senator. and when i was elected to the senator nearly a quarter of a century ago, ted had already been here for nearly a quarter of a century. he served with 10 presidents, or nearly one out of every four of them. no one could have predicted the kind of run for ted back on november 7, 1962. no one, that is, except for maybe ted. ted signaled what his legacy might be as far back as 1965, when he spoke of setting a rdcord for longevity. mike mansfield saw a glimpse of it too a few years later when

somebody mentioned ted as a possible presidential candidate, mansfield responded -- he's in no hurry. he's young. he likes the senate. of all the candidates, he is the one who was and is a real senate man. as it turns out, mansfield was right. but ted knew even then that his legacy as a lawmaker wouldn't come about just by sitting at his desk. he'd have to build it. and over the course of the next 47 years, that's exactly what he did. slowly, patiently, doggedly, making his mark as much in tedious committee hearings as on the stump, as much in the details of legislation as in its broader themes. now, ted's last name assured that he was already one of the stars of american politics even before he became a senator.

to this day he is still the only man or woman in u.s. history to elected to the senate while one of his relatives sat in the white house. but to those who thought ted even if elected would avoid the rigors of public life, he became a living rebuke. in short, he became a senator. he surprised the skeptics. first of all, with his tprebdliness and his wit. when he made -- with his friendliness and wit. when he made his debut on "meet the press," a questioner asked him if maybe there were already to many kennedys. his response: you should have talked to my mother and father. russellong was an early admirer in what has to go down as one of the falsest first impressis in modern politics. long spoke approvingly as the new senator from massachusetts

as -- quote -- "a quiet sort of fellow. " ted got along with everybody. the earliest memories that family members have are of ted laughing and making other people laugh. his secret weapon then and years later, as chris dodd rightly pointed out at one of the memorial services, was simply this: people lik me. so much so that he could call people like jim eastland, somebody with whom he had absolutely nothing in common with, a frien ted had learned early on that he could be more effective through alliances and relationships than by hollering and carrying on. we all know he did a fair amount of that as well. he provided some of the best theater the senate's ever known. but once he left the chamber, he turned that off. he sought out allies wherever he could find them. strom thurmond, dan quayle, orrin hatch, john mccain and

even george w. bush. and he earnedheir cooperation by keeping his word and through thousands of small acts of kindness. senator mccain has recounted the birthday bash that ted through for his son jimmy's 11th birthday. senator barrasso remembers the kindness ted showed him as a new senator. and senator barrasso's family will long remember how much time senator kennedy spent sharing stories with them at the reception after the swearing-in and that he was one of theast ones to leave. like so many others, i've known ted's graciousness firhand. anyo who watches c-span 2 could see t*ed railing at the top of his lungs against my position on this policy or that policy. what they didn't see was the magnificent show he put on a few years ago in kentucky at my invitation for students at the university of louisville or the

framed photo he gave me that day of my political role model, john sherman cooper. i interned for cooper as young man. ted knew that, and he knew cooper was a neighbor and good friend of his brother jack's. ted's gregariousness was legendary, but his passion and intensity as a lawmaker would only reach near my thick proportions in his -- mythic proportions in his lifetime. even those who saw the same problems but different solutions on issues, we couldn't help but see the fight in every debate which he played part. over the years we came to see what e was doing here in the senate. when it came to ted's future, everyone was always looking at it through the prism of the presidency. they suld have focused on this chamber instead. it was here that he slowly built

the kind of influence and voice for a national constituency that was common for senators in the 19th century, but extremely rare in the 20th. he became a fiery spokesman for liberals everywhere. ted and i would have a hard time agreeing on the color of the carpet when we were in the chamber together. yet, despite his public image as a liberal fire brand, he was fascinated by the hard work of eating consensus and jumped into that work even toward the end with the enthusiasm of a young staffer. ted's high school teammates recall that he never walked to the hub. he always ran. anyone who ever sat across from ted at a conference table believed it. ted realized senators could do an awful lot once they got past the magnetic pull that

pennsylvania has for so many senators. his brother jack once said as a senator, he thought the president had all the influence. it wasn't until he was president that he realized how much influence senators had. it was a similar insight that led ted t tell a group of boston globe reporters in 1981 that for him, the senate was fulfilling, satisfying, challenging, and that he could certainly spend his life here, which of course he did. and then when it was winding down, he saw what he had done as a senator and what the senate had de for him. and he wanted others to see it too. so he set about to establish the edward m. kennedy institute for the united states senate, a place that would focus on this institution the way presidential libraries focus on presidents. the founders, of course,

envisioned theegislati and executive branches as carrying equal weight. article 1 is about congress, after all, not the presidency. his life and legacy help restore that vision of a legislative counterweight of equal weight. at's an important institutional contribution every senator can appreciate. it's something he did through hard work, tenacity, and sheer will. it wasn't the legacy most expected, but it's the legacy he wrote. and in the end he could call it his own. toward the end of his life, one of the great lawmakers of the 19th century -- henry clay -- was asked to speak to the kentucky general assembly. thanks to clay's efforts, the compromise of 1850 had just been reached, and clay had become a national hero through a job that

he had spent most of his career trying to escape. his speech received national coverage, and according to one biographer, all acknowledged his privileged station as an elder statesman. for years clay wanted nothing more than to be president of the united states. but now after his, this last great legislative victory, something else came into view. clay told the assembled crowd that day that in the course of months and months of intense negotiations leading up to the great compromise, he had consulted with democrats just as much as he had with members of his own party. he found them just as -- he found in them just as much patriotism and honor as he had found with the wigs. the whole experience had moved clay away from party raoeufrlry, he -- rivalry, he said, and toward a new goal. i want no office, no station in

the gift of man, he said, except a warm place in your hearts. well, every man has his own story. ted kennedy never moved away from party rivalry. he was a frce partisan to the end. but over the years he reminded theorld of the great potential of this institution and eve came to embodyt. we will never forget the way he filled the chamber with that booming voice, waving his glasses at his side, jabbing his fingers at the air. or the many times we saw h playing outside with hisogs. how many times could we spot him comi through the door way or on to an elevator, his hair white as the surf and think, "here comes history itsel"

as the youngest child in one of the most influential political families in u.s. history, ted kennedy had enormous shoes to fill. yet, in nearly 50 years of service as a young senator, a candidate for president, a legislative force, and an elder statesman, it is hard to argue that he didn't fill those shoes in part he wrote all by himself. it's hard to imagine the senate without ted thundering on the floor. it will be harder still, i'm sure, for the kennedy family to ink of a future without him. you could say all of these things and more about the late senator from massachusetts, and you could also say this: edward moore kennedy will always have a warm place in our hearts. mr. president, i yield the

floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time be reserved. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to a period of morning business until 12:30 with the time equally divided and controlled between two leaders or their designees. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. kerry: i thank the chair. i would yield myself such time as i might use. the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. mr. kerry: mr. president, i want to thank majority leader reid and minority leader mcconnell for the time that they have set aside for us today to remember ted kennedy, our beloved colleague, my senior senator for nearly a quarter of a century, a friend, the man i met first and who had a great influence on me in politics back in 1962, when as a young

about-to-be college student, i had the privilege of working as a volunteer in his first campaign forhe united states senate. mr. president, to lookt his desk now cloaked in the velvet and the roses, a desk from which he championed so many important causes, a desk from which he regaled us, educated us a befriended us for so many years, and even more difficult for us to think of this chamber, our nation's capital, without him. on many occasions in the senate, he was the indispensable man. on every occasion in this chamber, he was a man whose heart was as big as heaven, whose optimism could overwhelm any doubter and whose joy for life was a wonderfully

contagious and completely irresistible thing. t*ed lovedoetry -- ted loved poetry, though the verse was ancien the poet could have had ted in mind when he wrote one must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day s been. our day with ted kennedy was indeed splendid. its impact immeasurable. just think for a moment what a differt country we lived in before ted kennedy came to the senate in 1962 and what a more perfect union we live in for the 47 years that he served here. before ted kennedy had a voice in the senate and a vote in the senate, there was no civil rights act, no voting rights act, no medicare, no medicaid, no vote for 18-year olds, no martin luther king jr. holiday, no meals on wheels, no equal

funding for women's collegiate sports, no state health insurance program, no family medical leave act, no americorps, no national service act. all of these are literally just a part of ted's legislative legacy. it's why the "boston globe" once wrote that in actual measurable impact on the lives of tens of llions of working families, the elderly and the needy, ted pwhropbgs inhe same -- belongs the same sentence with franklin roosevelt. ted's season of service spanned the administration, the administration of ten presidents. he served with mo than 350 senators, including those for whom our principal office buildings are named: richard russell, everett dirksen, and phillip hart. he cast more than 15,000 votes. he wrote more than 2,500 bills.

he had an important hand in shaping almost every single important la that affects our lives today. he helped create nearly every majorocial prgram in the last 40 years. he was the senate's voice for civil rights, women's rights, human rights and the rights of workers. he stood against judges who would turn back the clock on constitutional freedoms. he pointed america away from war, first in vietnam, and, last, in iraq. and for three decades, including the last days, he labored with all of his might to make health care a right for all americans. and through it all, even as he battled, he showed us how to be a good colleague, always loyal, always caring, always lively. his adversaries were never his enemies. and his friends -- his friends

always came first. in my office there's a photograph of the two of us on day one, 1985, my first day in the senate. ted signed it as humphrey b bogt would have said, thiss the beginning of a beautiful friendship. for almost 25 years it was a beautiful friendship as i worked at his side learning the best. thereere momts when we had a difference on one issue or another, but we always found the way to move forward in friendship and in our efforts to represent the state. teddy was the best natural teacher that anyone in politics could ask for. i may not alway have been the best student, but he never stopped dispensing the lessons. i came to the senate out of an activist grassroots political base where the coin at the realm was policy positions. activists are so issue focused and intent, they can

inadvertently look past the personal touch or emotional connection for fear that it somehow distracts from the agenda. but teddy, through his actions, showed us how essential all of those other elements of political life are. yes, tip o'neill taught a generation of massachusetts politicians that all politics is local. it was teddy who went beyond that that taughts that all politics is personal. all o us knew the kindness of ted kennedy at one time or another, mr. president, and i refer my first term in the senate, i came down with pneumonia, and i was then single and tired and ted deemed me not to be getting the care that i ought to get. and so next thing i knew he literally instructed me to depart for floridand stay in theennedy home in palm beach an be cared for until i got well. and, indeed, i did exactly that. he also showed up at my house

the evening of inauguration day of 2005, and together with chris dodd, we shared laughter an stories of the campaign trail. we were loud enough and had enough fun, that somehow someone might have mistaken that we might have won. she understood the moment an understood that the best tonic was laughter and friendship. many times that's all he knew, was to be there. you couldn't help but feel better with him around. all of us who knew him were privileged enough to share ted's love of life and laughter. in the cloakroom sometimes the roars of laughter were so great that they could be heard on the senate floor. once ted was holding forth -- i won't share the topic -- and the presiding officer pounded the gavel and demanded that there will be order in the senate and in the cloakroom. i think that was the first time that i heard that a for ord.

his pranks were also works of art and brilliantly calculated. one night after a series of thursday night votes that pushed senators past the time to catch commercial flights home to the northeast, senator lautenberg arranged for a private charter for himself in order to get up to massachusetts. it turned out a number of senators needed to travel in that direction. when he heard of it, he offered senators claiborne, pell, and. the next week when we were reassembled on the floor of the senate, official-looking envelopes were delivered to us from frank lautenberg's signature with expenses. and senator pell roared down the aisle and came up to me about this minor little aircraft and how could it possibly cost so

much. senator lautenberg was red faced protesting that he knew nothing about it with when out of the corner of my eye i spy ted kennedy up there at his desk with a chesire cat grin. the mystery was solved, ted secured a few sheets of lautenberg's stationery and sent false bills to each of us. he once told me that his earliest recollections were pillow fights with with his brother jack and in the years that followed sailing with jack. at the end of the day ted's job was the long task of folding and packing the sails awa in politics an in the great progressive battles that were his life's work, ted never packed the sails away. were he here today, he would exhort us to sail into the wind as he did so many times. there is so much to do. so much that he wanted to do.

and so much that he would want us to do now. not in his name, but in his spirit. when ted was 12 yrs old, he spent hours with his brother jack taking turns, reading the war poem "john brown's body." it is book length and filled with great an terrible scenes of battle and hardbreaking loss of home. it surprises me to read it now and find so much in it that, in fact, reminds me of ted. sometimes it was written -- there comes a crack in time itself. sometimes the sertsd earth is ty something. the polar srs moved united states an unfathomed force that will not have it anymore. call it god or fate, call it economic law, that force exists

and moves, and wn it moves, it will emploa hard and actual stone to batter into bits an actual wall and change the actual scheme of things. ted kennedy was such a stone who actually changed the scheme of things on so many issues for so many people. over the years i've received hundreds of handwtten notes from ted. some funny, some touching, all them treasures. before thanksgiving ted sent me a note that he would spend his holiday with his beloved sailboat. he added, if you're out onhe sound, look for the mia, she will be there. indeed, i will never sail the sown again without thinking of the mia and her big-hearted skipper. there is an anonymous qte that i once read, which because of ted's faith, which was grounded and deeply important to him.

i thinc it describes how we should think of his departure from the senate. it says -- i am standingpon the sea shore, a ship at my side spreads his white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. she is an object of beauty and strength and i stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. then someone at my side says, there, she's gone. gone where? gone from my sight, that is all. she is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side. an just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. her diminished size is in me, not in her. and just at the moment when someone at my side says, there,

she's gone, there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, there she comes, and that is dying. that is the way ted kennedy will live here in the senate. his spirit, his words, and the fight that still comes. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. a senator: mr. president, first, let me thank my colleague from massachusetts for his eloquent statement, which i've had the privilege to hear. mr. bingaman: let me make what

short statement myself about my friend and colleague, ted kennedy. i came to the senate in january of 1983, and my first real opportunity to work with ted came in t armed services committee at the beginning of that service. although he had already bn in the senate for 20 years, he had chosen that year to go on to the armed services committee, and since we were both going on that -- that year in 1983, we were consider the two freshmen committee members. ted and i were able to work together on the armed services committee for many years. he has been described as a visionary leader, a great orator, the keeper of the faith for the liberal wing of the democratidemocratic party and ao

those descriptions are, of course, true. but the ted kennedy that i came to know and that i had the great opportunity to work with, i knew as a passionate, committed advoca, and as the workhorse of the senate. frankly, ted kennedy set a very high standard for himself in the effort that he made on each and every issue that came up for debate. he set a high standard for the homework that he did in preparation for that debate. all of us who served with him found ourselves trying to meet a similar standard. in effect, he had the -- the -- the result was he raised the level of performance for those of us who served with him by the example that he set. in addition to serving with ted kennedy on the armed services committee for many years, in may of 1990, following the death of senator motsinaga, i was

assigned to the human resource committee. ted was proactive in that committee. the volume of useful legislation that he was able to move forward through the committee was truly impressive. a major key to his success was the way that he found to underscore for a members the importance of what the committee was working on. it's chairman he rightly saw it as his job to put together the agenda and the priorities for the committee's work. but before doing that, he would sit down with t rest of us over dinner at our house to get our views on what those priorities needed to be. the serious approach that he to to the committee's work inspired those of us who served there to elevate the importance

of that work in our own minds as well. during the course of our work here in the senate each of us gets the opportunity to interact with many colleagues, to form judgments about those colleagues, and during my 27 years, i've served with many capable a dedicated public servants who deserve recognition and praise. but it's clear to me that none of us exceeds ted kennedy in our passion or commitment for accomplishing the work that we have been sent here to do. patrick hirshburg wrote a short piece in "the new yorker" last we that captures well the ted kennedy that i was privileged to know and serve with. mr. hirschburg wrote -- quote -- "the second half of his 47-year senatorial career was a wonder

of focused, patient, unwavering service to practical liberalism that improved the lives of the poor, the old, the disabled, children, the uninsured, the undocumented, the medley or he'd -- medically or educationally disadvantaged." that focused, unwavering service is a good description of the ted kennedy i knew as my chairman and my friend and i will miss him very much. the presiding ofcer: the senator from connecticut. mr. dodd: i want to rise briefly and share some thoughts about our colleague. i want to commend john kerry and jeff bingaman for their comments in capturing the good qualities

of the senator from massachutts as well. and this is a robust hall with -- known for a lot of noise. it seems quieter today because teddy's not here. so we gath -- so we gather today 0 to share a few thoughts. i'm going to ask consent that remarks i made at the memorial service at the john f. kennedy library in boston be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dd: i was honored to be asked by mrs. kennedy, vicky kennedy, to share some thoughts that evening and was proud to do so, along with many others. i want to commend my colleague from rhode island, patrick kennedy, for his comments at his father's funeral, and his son edward kennedy as well, who made, what i thought were excellent comments about their father at his funeral service.

just a few thoughts this morning. when we try to consider how to pay tribute to our colleagues, we often try to come up with monuments, ways in which we can celebrate the contribution of the work of those who served here a made a significant contribution to our cntry. it's not an easy task. we try to find appropriate monuments and memorials or ways to celebrate in some concrete way the contribution of people. and in many ways i tried to think what would be an appropriate way to celebrate, at least in some concrete way, the work of ted kennedy. he certainly has been, as our colleagues and others have pointed out over these last couple of weeks, one of the greatest members to ever serve in this body. i had the distinction and honor being chairman of the rules committee a few years ago and was asked to complete, at least in the latter part, mididpart of the 20th century, the ovals in

the reception room. for those who have not been to washington or beeto the capitol o been to the senate of the united states, there is a room just a few feet from where i'm speaking here this morning called the reception room. it was designed by the great artist brumidi. he intended that room to celebrate the work of the united states senate. in the mid-1950's, a then-senator from massachusetts, john fitzgerald kennedy to put together a committee and identify the five most significant snorts that served up until the 1950's. then hen senator john kennedy of massachusetts went to work as he did and went back and observed the contributions of people who served in this body since its founding at the outset of our republic in 1789 and concluded there were five members who deserved recognition. the first three were the obvious ones: clay, calhoun and

webster. the last two, senator la follette of wisconsin a senator taft of ohio, who were more controveral but nonetheless i think were accepted as fine contributions to that room that celebrates those that we recognize as having contributed the most to this body and to our country. i was asked a couple of years ago then to add a couple more names to that honor roll, renowned and celebrated members of this body. along with several other peopl and historians, we concluded that senator vandenberg, who made such a contribution to the post-world war ii foreign policy of our nation, along with senator wagner of new york, who was the author of much of the social legislation that we celebrate in this country today, back in the 1920's and 1930's and 1940's were fine additions to those who had been recognized in this reception room off the floor of the united states senate. but i believe one day it will be appropriate to add the overly of our -- add the owe valve our

colleague a -- add the oval of our colleague and friend from massachusetts for having made a significant contribution to this institution and the people of our country. that is a decision i'd like to talk to my colleagues about as a way to celebrate his contribution there are other wayssell. iuspect if senator kennedy had a chance to comment on how he would like to be recognized, he might choose other means other than the traditional forms we use to celebrate the contribution. there really is very few issues over the last 25, 30 years or more that any significance here that senator kennedy didn't leave his mark on. they bear his name as having been the most significant legislation to pass this body. that in itself is a monument in a way, maybe far broader than anything we might inscribe on a wall here or a painting on a

wall somewhere. across america there are people who might have lacked for an advocate had ted kennedy not stood up for them. people who stand up for themselves with the dignity of hope and a clans to make it is because they had a friend in this body by the name of edward moore kennedy. these americans are also a monument that i think senator kennedy might say is fitting enough that there are people today living betr, living more secure lives, growing up with a sense of confidence and optimism about their future and the future of this country because of his contribution. that itself is a great, great monument. or perhaps we could consider the flood of tributes that have come across the aisle as well as around the globe and those who shared his crusade for social justice and those who spent their caree opposing him, but all understood how important senator knedy was not only to this nation, but to millions of people around the globe who

today lead better lives, have a greater opportunity because he stood up for them, even though they were not citizens of our country. but they understood that the founders of our republic when they talked about inalienable rights were not limiting those rights to those who happened to enjoy the privileges of bei citizens of our country. they are god given rights every human being are endowed with upon birth regardless of where they live. ted kennedy understood that intuitively, deeply and passionately. that in itself i suppose could be a great tribute, knowing there are people who he never met, never knew what he looked like thank you but lead betr lives today becau of his contribution. then perhaps, mr. president, these tributes offered by our colleagues here and others, even by those who are, i guess you might say at least not politically well-known or socially well-known o economically well-off, the literally thousds, the thousands that lined up in those

long hours to pay tribute to their senator in massachusetts at the john f. kennedy library, the more than 50,000 to 75,000 people in massachusetts who had known and respected, elected and reelected and reelected over and over again their senator from massachusetts, who they appreciated immensely for the work he did for them in the state of massachusetts on a daily basis for almost 50 years. that itself is a great tribute. it would be fitting enough i think for many of us to be recognized by the people of your state for having fought on their behalf. maybe senator kennedy's monument could be found in his wonderful family as well. joe ben talked about this at the memorial service at the john kennedy library, whether or not the era is over. i think vice president biden captured this well, to try to limit this as if the definition of individuals can mark the beginning or end of eras. when you consider t

remarkable family of senator kennedy, those of his brothers, their children, their nieces and nephews, it is a source of inspiration when you think of what each them have done, the contributions they have made. a few short weeks prior to the passing of senator kennedy, he lost his sister, eunice, who was a wonderful friend of mine over many, many years. did remarkable things as an individual. made a difference, one individual, withhe special olympics. i think throughout hundreds, about 120, 130 different countries, ph-lgs of people who suffer from mental disabilities enjoy greater respect today because of one individual: eunice kennedy shriver. one sister. s brother joe lost his life in world war ii, defending our country and fighting for freedom. his sister jean has done a remarkable job wit the very special arts in her contribution to the country. then you look at his wonderful fe, vicky, who has provided such an incredible source of

strength and anspiration for him during their life together particularly over the last 15 months. there iso doubt in my mind that teddy lived as long as he did with brain cancer because vicky was at his side and took such nurring care of him and has done a remarkable job providing all of us the opportunity to celebrate his life as we all wish to do. so his children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, i won't bother enumerating all of them and their contributions. if i did i would invariably leave out some and i would hear from them. i think they are following teddy's example by making a difference in this country. his son patrick serves in the other body. his son teddy is a great friend of mine, lives in connecticut, is making a significant contribution in our state just as a citizen of our state. holds no office, doesn't have any title. he and his wife make a wonderful difference on many issues in our state every single day. and his daughter kara, who he

has such great afiion for, has made her contributions. not many can say if your children and family do well and stand up and make a difference in the lives of other people, what better tribute, what better higher form of compliment can you have than to know your children, your family, nieces, nephews, your sisters, your brothers are out doing things making a difference in t lives of others. that is a great monument in and of itself. in a way, mr. president, it is hard to decide what is an appropriate way to celebrate the life of someone who filled ts room on so many occasions not onlyith his boomhng voice which we all are familiar with here, particularly the sff in the senate who many times would be the only one in this room as ted kennedy would be pounding that podium back in that corner expressing his passionate views outome great cause in the country. but not only that, his booming voice, but his booming determination that this country live up to the expectations of creating that more perfect union

that our founders described more than two centuries ago. mr. president, in a strange and awkward feeling not to have him here. but we may have many kennedys contributing mightily to the country in the years ahead, and that would be a great monument to him as well. i'd like to make a suggestion if i could to my colleagues. i've talked to the leadership about it. i know they've talked to the minority, the republican leadership as well. it is the only occasion in the history of our country where three brothers have served in this chamber. jack kennedy, robert kennedy and of course teddy kennedy. that's never happened before in the history of our nation. one of the rooms that has been such significance to our nation is the caucus room in the russell office building. it's been the site of remarkable hearings and meetings since its building almost a century ago. that room has been very important. the caucus room is where many important meetings, the hearings

on the titanic were held in that room, the watergate hearings were held in that room. i think of countless occasions. important markups and meetings over the years. it is there we commemorated tragedies in our country, we met to celebrate the lives of our colleagues. we celebrated triumphs in that room. we gathered with spouses from time to time to share quiet moments with each other as we reflect on our responsibilities here a senators. we've held some greatest debates that have occurred in that room. it is there that senator kennedy's health committee which i was privileged to act in as a fill-in for him over the last couple of months held weeks of hearings and debate and markup of a bill that concluded in the adoption of the health care reform legislation that he authored and that we spent such a long and diffilt time trying to fashion just a few weeks ago. and how sad it was not to have him in that room during those

last four to five weeks. it is in that room that senator kennedy's brothers announced their candidacies for president of the united states. it is there that i would propose that we affix the kennedy name not just as a monument to the things these three brothers did as senators and colleagues ofous here, but in the spirit of compassion and compromise, the fierce advocacy andder friendship that the kennedy brothers brought to this body, particularly teddy. this was teddy's wish and desire. i asked him what could we do to recognize him. he said i'd like to have you recognize my brothers as well for their contribution. senator kennedy believed in impassioned debate. he believed in pounding that podium when it was appropriate. but he also believed at the end of the day we best serve the people of our great nation when we respect each other and work together in common cause to

solve the problems of our day. whatever history is made in the caucus room of the russell senate office building in the next century, i'd like to believe it could be guide by that spirit of respect and good humor tt ted kennedy brought to this institution for almost half a century. and may the kennedy caucus room stand as a monent, if you will, if we have to choose one, to the contradiction of a family that has made such a difference to our country. they devoted their considerable talents and energy and their lives in many ways to serving our nation that they loved and who loved them back. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: m president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i rise along with my colleague to pa tribute to an extraordinary american and probably the

greatest senator to serve in this body. i think time will confirm that as we go forward. iarticularly want to express my deepest sympathy to vicky and cara and patrick and ted jr. i've had the privilege not only of serving with senator ted kennedy but also with congressman patrick ke -- patrick kennedy. both of these gentlemen demonstrated zeal for public service and commitment and passion to hel people that has, i think, be emblow mattic of the family. i have been particularly enamored with patrick, his words at his father's funeral, his dedication tohe people o rhode island are not only commendable, but inspiring to many and all of us. like so many in my generatio i

grew up with the kennedy family. in 1960, john kennedy carried the banner of the democratic party as the presidential candidate. he won, but as we understood then and now, we got the whole family, not just president john kennedy. and it was a remarkable family. his brother robert who was a senator, and then ted kennedy. his contribution to the country and to the world is probably unmatchable as we go forward in every area, health care, which was his particular passion, and which president obama spoke so movingly last evening about his commitment to moving forward i this congress and finally achieve a dream that eluded our country for years and years and

years. his work with his son patrick on mental health parity, which is so importa. ned indication, i had the privilege of serving with him on the education committee and as a member of the house to collaborate with him on education bill and every education initiative in this country bears his stamp, his int, his inspiration he worked with senator claiborne pell for the creation of the pell grants and for so many other initiatives in education. and he only -- not only worked with senator pell, they developed a very deep and abiding friendship. and one of the impressive things about ted kennedy is that the public persona was impressive, the private persona was equally impressive and extraordinarily endearing. he was someone who had a great

sense of camaraderie and friendship and good humor, and i can recall being invited to join senator kennedy at the pell home in newport after senator pell retired. every year unannounced senator kennedy would sail his boat into newport and insist on taking setor pell out for a cruise andhey would retire to the pell home for a delightful supper. i was privileged to be there on a couple of occasions. toward the end of his life, senator pell had difficulty moving around, but senator kennedy would insist on coming every summer. the last outing, literally had to carry senator pell aboard. and senator pell at that time s not communicati as effectively as h was previously, but he didn't have to because senator kennedy could

take both parts of the conversation. in fact, he could take multiple parts of the conversation. and there was never a lost word or a dull moment. and it was great opportunity to see an extraordinary statesman, but an extraordinary gentleman at the same time. he said famously about his brothers that they lived to see the american dream become a reality. and he said famously that the dream lives on. but he also, more than grieving, tried to give substance, shape, and texture to that dream. effectively try to ensure that opportunity was available to every american fily, that they could use their talents to build their family and to secure their future and contribute t a better america. that was why he led on health

care. because without adequate health care, you can't realize your potential and you can't contribute as much to this great untry. he led our education because it's the great engine that pulls this nation forward and individually gives people an opportunity to move up and to help their famils move forward. in civil rights, he was a strong advocate. in fact, i think his first major speech was in favor of the 1964 civil rights act. because he understood that the talent of america was not restricted to any group. and that to meet the challenges of this nion and this world, we need the contributions, the partipation ofvery american. -- regardless of race, lardless of -- regardless of gender. he understood that for the working men and women of this country, they needed help.

they needed a share in the bounty of this country. what we've seen over the last decade has been growth up until the crisis of last september, but that growth was not shared fairly or evenly. executives getting huge, huge salaries and bonuses. the working men and women were barely keeping up. and in order to have a strong, prosperous economy, we need a strong, prosperous middle class. his work in terms of education and health care and labor,ll of that, had purpose not only of helping individuals, but wisely tryingo establish an environment for economic growth that we all could share. he also served on the defense committee with me. and he was very perceptive. he had spent many years viewing

the world and his understanding of not only the military, but the forces, economic and cultural that shape our interaction with other countries was profound in its insights. he was verylearly opposed to the operations in iraq because he understood that it was a strategic deviation from the real task which continues in afghanistan to root out al qaeda, to stablize the region, which is the most volatile region in the country. that wasust one example of his insights into the international arena. there is a story, and it's attributed to either his brother, john, or to senator kennedy, but i think it might be appropriate for both, and it --

but either john or ted, according to the story, was standing outsi a factory and a worker came up and said -- they tell me you've never worked a day in your life. and kennedy was taken aback. and then shortly the worker said, don't worry, you haven't missed anything. a family of great privilege, of great opportunity, in fact, rked every day of their life, and particularly ted kennedy. hard, relentlessly to ensure that that person coming out of the fact are had chance. finally, what i sensed when i was at the funeral service, which was an extraordinary moving and inspirational, the outpouring of affection and regard for senator kennedy, not

by the digniries that assembled, but by ordinary citizens of massachusetts and here lining the route to arlingto. he has a -- it bespeaks a connection and validation by the american people of an individual who had trials and triballations, but rose above it and served -- in constant service to people who don't have a voice. in constant service to those who need a chance to help themselves, to help their families and, and to make the -- families, and to make the nation a better place. it reminded me of words spoken about franklin delano roosevelt. his cortege was moving through washington, d.c., a man w

visibly shaking, weeping, a reporter went up to him and said, you know, you're so upset. did you know the president? he said,o, i didn't know him, but he knew me. and ted kennedy knew us all. he knew our strength. he knew our weaknesses. he knew that this government could make a difference in the ves of people. he had shared the same fficulties and challenges that we face, children stricken with cancer, the loss of his brothers and one of his sisters in an airplane crash, the human reality. and because he knew us, he never stopped working for us. his legacy is extraordinary.

itill inspire and sustain us as we go forward. his loss, not just to his family, which is considerable to all of us, is balanced by how much he made us better, more attuned to the chaenge of serving america and leadinghe world. we will miss him, but our task now is to take up his work, to continue his efforts. that is the greatest tribute that we can pay and let us begin with this debate on health care. madam president, i yld the floor. mr. brownback: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. brownback: thank you very much. madam president, iise to add my voice to those who he already paid tribute to our

friend and colleague, the late senator ted kennedy, who passed away this last month after a courageous battle with cancer. it was quite an institution. i came into this body in a seat held b an individual that was quite an institution as well, bob dole, was in this seat. so i kno when people look to the person that follows after ted kennedy, you just can't replace an individual like that that was such a towerg figure in this body, was the byon of the senate, -- lion of senate as many noted. while senator kennedy and i did not see eye to eye on moss political issues -- on most political issues, i admired him as a colleague and public servant. he fought for what he believed in and did so with compassion and conviction and an incomparable ability. when he was your opponent o an issue, you knew you had a fight

on your hands, and when he was on your side, you knew you had an advocate who worked hard and was effective. his skills as a legislator were unmatched. what was at the core of that was that he really enjoyed working with other people. he built rationships across the aisle with individuals and so that he could personally go to other individuals with that relationship he had built even though there was hug digreepts on policy issues -- disagreements on policy issues on many other fronts, he had the personal relationships. to him, i think in many cases, it was a lot more about the person rather than the policy. and i think that's a good lesson for many of us to learn. he mastered the legislative process, became one of the most effective members of this body and this body has ever known. one of the kexs of his effecteness was his tenacity and attending to the unglamorous details and sometim tedious work that goes into crafting a

bill. he understood that getting things done as a politician means compromise. and he had a great sense of when to fight on principle and when to reach ut to the other side and arrive at an agreement in order to advance the cause he was fighting for. he --nd i think you could look back over the last decade or last 15 year of this body and no major piece of legislation passed without ted kennedy's fingerprint somewhere around or on to piece of legislation. despite our pitical differences, i always found him to be professional, courteous, thoughtful, and a caring individual. he was always looking for ways to find common ground and had a wonderful ability to win others over to his side. -- with that charm, irish wit, his fellowship and a gregarious nature. once @e made an agreement, you could depend on him to be true to his word and honor in public an agreement he had made in

private. over the years i had the opportunity to work on several legislative issues with senator kennedy and as many have testified, he was the best ally one could ever hope for. most recently we worked together to pass the prenatalie and post natalie diagnosed conditions. of legislation. i would travel the country saying senator kennedy and i introduced pro-life legislation together. many people would be startled. i explained what it was. i said it was a piece of legislation that would encourage people, once they had a diagnosis that their child was down's syndrome in utero, would encourage them not to abo the child, but instead thave the chil put together an adoption registry of individuals that were wilng to adopt children with down's syndrome. because we have this terrible plague in the country where 90% of our children that are diagnosed with down's syndrome never get here, that they're

aborted. so in our office, we went to the disability community, we went to s sister eunice and talked with her about it, and went to ted. and i remember how effective his sister, eunice, would be on lobbying ted on this piece of legislation. just this past year when we were able to move things forward with it, i met with eunice, and she was obviously getting more difficult and failing of heah at that point in time. she said, is teddy being helpful? is teddy working with you and helpg? we'd say yes, he is, but you can always help us more. you can push him more. and she did. and what an effective team that was on providing help for those, especially with mental disabilities. even on this pro-life piece of legislation that we wked together that i hope will result in more people getting here that have disabilities, so that they're not killed in utero, but

instead that they get here. and if people can't handle that issue in their families, that they put them up for adoption, because we have adoption registries ready to go for people that want to adopt some child that may have more difficulties. working together, we were able to find common ground in protecting the dignity of these precious americans by providing parents who receive a pre- or postnatal diagnosis of genetic disability with resources, information, and a network of support. i am so pleased to know that senator kennedy lived to see this bill passed and signed into law. it stands as an example on how we can find commo ground to advance the interests of all americans in spite of differences. this body truly won't be the same place without ted kennedy, without his rhetoric and his strong voice, his abilities as a legislator. my thoughts and my prayers go

out to, his family and his friends. i yield the floor. the esiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: madam president, i join today with colleagues to pay tribute to the life and the legacy of senator ted kennedy. each of us here has lost a friend with hisassing, and all americans, but especially those in need, have lost a champion of government's ability to bring light to dark places. all of us stand in awe of the lengthy record o accomisent that senator kennedy leaves us. it was a great privilege to rve for many years with ted kennedy on the armed services committee and to witness firsthand the traits so well-known to members o this senate: the tireless preparation, thentimate knowledge of the legislative process, the relentless tubg on justice and equality. -- focus on justice and equality. today our citizens are safer, our military more capable, our

troops better equipped because of his service. senator kennedy approached his rk with diligence and dedication, but he also knew that work goes more smoothly when its accomplished with friendship and good humor. it was possible to disagree with ted kennedy but never to dislike him. his sense of humor was contagious, and his concern for those around him, from fellow senators to staff to the many often unheralded people who make the senate function, ensured that h was loved as well as respected throughout this body. that love extends across lines of party and ideology in part because of that good humor and genuine concern for others for which he is so rightly known. but it was not jt these qualities that endeared ted kennedy to figures o all political persuasions. it was the seriousness and good faith with which he approached

ideas that differed from his own. in 1983, this liberal catholic from massachusetts traveled to the conservative liberty baptist college in virginia, where he told the students -- quote -- "the more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side." ted kennedy lived out that sentiment every day. we salute his ability to work across party lines to achieve consensus, to work on a piece of legislationntil doubters became enthusiastic supporters. he excelled in transforming nays to yea senator kennedy was a master of our own specialized world, and his legislative legacy stands with those of the giants of this chamber. he tackled what some see as the great game of politics with

gusto. ted kennedy's life's work was not a game. politics was not a contest, stage for its own sake or in pursuit of power or prestige. ted kennedy was a master not of the politics of the moment, but of the politics of meaning. ted kennedy's task was to touch lives. he touched the family whose children have health insurance because of the children's health insurance program he helped establish. and the child who has better chance at an dducation because of his work on the no child left behind law. more americans can fully participate in our democracy because of the civil rights and voting rights legislation phat he pushed forward. we saw ted kennedy's passion for justice, tolerance, and understanding again recently when we were working on the matthew shepard loc law enforcement hate crimes prevention legislation. i quoted him during that debate

on that legislation when the defense authorization bill was on the floor, and i quote him again now. quote -- "we want to be able to ve a value system that is worthy for o brave men and women to defend. they are fighting overseas for our values. one of the values is that we should not in thisountry, in this democracy permit the kind of hatred and bigotry that has stained the history of this nation over a considerable period of time." well, the childn of our men and women in uniform have some of the best child care available, thanks to the national military child-care act that ted kennedy championed in 1989. and he was actively involved more recently, following the outrages at walter reed army medical center when we passed the wounded warrior legislation

in 2008. the lesson of ted kennedy's life and career is that politics, at its best, is not a game to be refereed by tv pundits. it's not a contest of poll numbers or a score card of grievances to nurse and favors to return. senator kennedy struck many deals. he brokered many compromises. he won many votes. but the true majesty of his career is not to be found in this chamber, though his work was done here. his lesson for us is that democracy is best understood in the homes and lives of its citizens. it is in the homes of families less burdened by want. it is in the minds of children freed by education. it is in the relief of parents who no longer fear for a child in need of medical care. it is in the souls of americans

who find inspiration in his triumph over tragedy andver his own shortcomings. it is in the hearts of the colleagues he leaves behind who will be inspired to rededicate ourselves to a politics tt recognizes our common humanity and seeks common ground in the pursuit of justice. my wife, barbara, and i will always keep in our hearts vicky, the love of ted's life, and will always remember ted's love affair with the american people. madam president, i yield the floor. mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic whip. mr. durbin: madam president, there was an historic momt on capitol hill last night. the president of the united states, barack obama, asked for a joint session of congress to address one of the most important and controversial issues of our time. emotions were running high in the house chamber as members of the house and senate gathered to

hear the president. you know that the ran high because there were expressions of support and disapproval during the president's speech. i sat with harry reidnd the other leaders in the, on the democratic side in the united states satend watched carefully as that speech unfolded. i thought the president was at his best. even under fire with the high emotions in the chamber. i wonred what the ending would be and how it would be received. if you recall, at t end of his speech the president referred to a letter that had been sento him by the late senator ted kennedy to be read after the senator had parsed away. and as the president referred to that letter, an amazing thing happened in that chamber filled with hundreds and hundreds of people. the emotions quieted down.

at one point you could have heard a pin drop in thatouse chamber as president obama recalled the legacy and the promise of life of senator edward kennedy. i came today to this seat on the senate floor. it's not my ordinary desk but it's a row where i sat in for a number of years as a new member of the united states senate. it was a particularly good assignment to sit in this row because behind me was paul wellstone and then ted kennedy. you never had any better back benchers than those two men. now they are both gone. but as i reflect on the absence particularly of senator kennedy, i recall for history his first speech on the floor of the united states senate. it was april 9, 1964. and here is t amazing fact: this speech took place 16 months

after h took his senate seat. that booming voice and presence which was so dominate in the senate for decades waited patiently for his turn, 16 months after the speci election in massachusetts gav him the sene seat once heldy his brother, john. when he rose to make his first speech on april 9, 1964, h said he wanted to -- he planned to address issues affecting the industry in employment in his home state of massachusetts. a thoughtful decision by someone recently elected to make sure your first speech really touches issues important to the friends at home. and he said he would make that speech one day, but he decided that his first speech would be much different. on that day, with his first speech, conscience and the cause of freedom compelled ted kennedy to speaknstead in eloquent

support of the bill the senate was then debating. it was a measure that president kennedy proposed nearly a year earlier. now, less than five months after that terrible day in dallas, texas, when his brother was assassinated, the youngest kennedy brother stood at the same desk his brother, john, had used when he served in the senate, the same desk ted kennedy used for the 47 years that he served in the united states senate, and he presented more than a dozen letters that he received from religious leaders all urgingongress to pass the civil rights act and end the evi of segregation in america. that was ted kennedy's first speech in the seate. he said when religious leaders call on us to urge passage of this bill, they're not mixing religion and politics. this isn't a political issue. it's a moral issue to be resolved through political means. he continued, "religious leaders can preach, they can advise, they can lead movements of

social action. but there comes a moment when persuasion must be backed up by law to be effective. in the field of civil rights, that point has been reached." he concluded by saying,my brother was the first president of the united states to say publicly that segregation was morally wrong. his heart and soul are in this bill," ted kennedy said. "if his life and death had a meaning, it was that we should not hate, but love one another. we should use our powers not to create conditions of oppression that lead to violence, but conditions of fedom that lead to peace. it is in that spirit that ted kennedy said, i hope the senate will pass this bill." that first speech by ted kennedy bore so many of the qualities that would define his public career the moral courage to take on the most urgent moral question of his time, no matter how controversial. the determination to pick up his brother's fallen standard, the prodigious amount of work behind the scenes building coalitions.

and an optimist unshakeable faith that america could become a more just and decent nation. listening to senator kennedy's sphaoefp that day were -- speech that day were some of the giants in the senate. senator hubert humphrey, the man who more than anyone brought me to public life when he allowed me to serve as intern in his public office. setor paul douglas of illinois, he was the first to speak, douglas was, after kennedy's maiden speech in the senate and said i never heard an address of a more truly noble and elevated te. he called him a worthy contrutor of the seat which he occupies in the senate with john quincy adams and through to his beloved and lamented brother. senator wayne morri stood to speak as well and he made a prediction. on the first day that ted kennedy spoke in this chamber, he said -- in my judgment the junior senator from

massachusetts has already denstrated that before he leaves the united states senate, he will have made a record in this body that will list him among the great senators in the history of the sate. that prediction was made 45 years ago by senator wayne morris o oregon. edward moore kennedy was one of the greatest senator of our time, but all time. there was no better advocate or more determined fighter for civil rights and human rights. he was a son of privilege, but he was a man, despite that background, who identified with the poor and dispossessed and poor in america. s fingerprint can be found on the legislation ofhe last half century, women's rights, gay rights, immigration reform, worker safety, fair housing, consumer protection, campaign finance reform, sensible gun laws, national service, minute -- minimum wage. he protected the vulnerable, the

widows the orphans, the mameed and dispossessed. he was a champion of people with disabilities. he believe that we should all be judged by what we can do, not by what we can't do. when i was asked by my local media in illinois about ted kennedy's passing if there was something about him that i knew that other people didn't know, i said interest that there -- that there was one thing that most people didn't know. as a result of an airplane crash early in his senate career, where he was dragged out of the plane by senator birch bayh, ted kennedy with a broken back and ribs went through a long period of con develo recovery and a lif discomfort as a result of that. many of us knew that ted kennedy was in physical pain because of his back problems.

if you had a press conference with ted kennedy, he broucht a little stool to perch on. you wated ase labored to get out of a chair to make sure he could stand and speak. never a word of complaint. not one. a physical condition that might have created a total disability for some people, didn't stop him. and it shouldn't to the -- to the intellectual part of this man, there was a physical commitment that he would give whatever it too to serve his people in massachusetts and serve the causes and values which motivated his public life. he was an advocate for the elderly throughout his career. little did he realize that his passion would have eventually affect him personally as he would qualify for social security and medicare. he helped to create programs from head start for preschoolers to a direct lending program for coege students. he helped to bring an end to

apartheid in south africa. his office wrote more than 2,500 bills andore than 300 became law, in addition some 550 bills he cosponsored became law. nearly every major legislative achievement of his was advanced with republican partner. he was a genius at principled compromise. he was abl to maintain aense of idealism and realizing them and achieving hem. he had an optimism to settle for progress not perfection especially said from his brother jack, that he learned you have to take issues seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously. he was gracious and generous in sharing credit for success. because of the suffering in his life through his familynd personally, developed this heart of gold, this empathy for other people and their own misfortunes. if one of his colleagues in the unitited states senate had something bad come their way,

you could almost bet the first call that they'deive would be from ted kennedy, regardless of which side of the aisle you were on. he would be the first toalk about some misfortune or illness in your family. how he learned this so quickly, we never figured out. but the kennedy network was there gathering that information, making certain that he always offered a helping hand or a pat on the shoulder if you needed it. health care was such an important part of his public career, decent, affordable health care, not as a right but a privilege -- i'm sorry. not as a right, but as a privilege. he did more than anyone in our nags'istory to advance that noe cause, voted to creat medicare and medicaid, protecting those programs for decades. community health centers, a kennedy initiative in 1966, and how much good that's done for america is incalculable. chief architect of the wick program, ryan whitect, few

americans areorced to make the agonizing choice of keeping their job or caring for a loved one who is sick because ted kennedy helped to pass the family and medical leave act. 11 million of our young kids in america are able to see a doctor because ted kennedy helped to create the children's health program. leading the fight to end discrimination by insurance companies which his son patrick as managed to pick up tha standard and help with his father pass that legislation. a bill which he meant so -- which meant so much to senator paul wellstone and so many others. during the last of his life he expended what energy he had left to pass health care, that's why the predent's speech struck a cord with so many people. he continued to work hard at his job, even on the phone ding the last days of his life. his son, patrick, said while his

father was hospitalized last year for treatment in north carolina and massachusetts, he would roam the halls of the hospital, you could just see him, asking other cancer patients a their family how they were doing and how they were managing their bills. some of the answers broke his heart. he was ready to come back and te on alth insurance reform if the vote was needed. even i the closing days of his life, senator reid, reaching out to vicki; knew that ted would be there even it was the last physical act of his life. as he passed civil rights in honor of his brother, the fallen president, if senator kennedy were here today, he would urge us to make affordable health care for every american a right, not a privilege. it is our obligation to search in good faith, as he did so often, for the principled compromise that will enable us to finish this urgent, moral challenge of our time in the

name of ted kennedy. i was fortunate to attend the memorial service in boston at our lady of perpetual help. a packed church with hundreds standing inhe rain outside wishing ty could attend. thousands who passed by to see his remains an pay a tribute to him on the final days. it was a great sendoff to a great man. an i was so touched by his family, that extded kennedy family, starting with vicki, his best ally in his life, the woman who stood by him through those tough times in the closing months of his life, his children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, all of them gathered as they went to take communion, john mccain leaned over to me and said you can see the map of ireland on all of those faces, and you could. it was a great gathering o the kennedy clan. i want to express my condolences not only to the family, but the great kennedy staff, always regarded as the best on capitol

hill. ted kennedy not only did great work, he helped build great people who continue to serve us in public careers. they have done so much for this nation, they will continue to do so inspired by his example. we're saddened by his passing, but we're determined to carry on. we know if he were here today, his voice would be booming on this flooror the extension of unemployment benefits, make sure that cobra deductions are sti there for those who have lost work, don't forget to increase the minimum wage, make sure that health care doesn't forget the 30 40r million -- 30 or 40 million people left behind. we will miss that booming voice. he will continue be an inspiration for all of us. last year at the national convention, he gave a great eech at the convention, even though there was a question as

to weather -- whether he would be able to give the speech. his wife vicki came up to me and handed me this plastic bracelet and said, i thoughtou might wish to have this and it has written on it one word, ted strong. i took it off for the first time since then at this moment. i won't be wearing this bracelet, but it will be at my senate desk and each time i open it, i will be reminded of ted kennedy. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. a senator: madam president, the assistant democratic leadern his eloquent remarks mentioned ted kennedy'saiden address, which is a tradition time that we have in the senate. we wait an appropriate amount of time to say something. i waited an appropriate time and made someemarks on the floor in support of legislation that

would help put the teaching of american history - american history and civics back in its rightful place in our schools so our children could grow up learning what it means to be an american. i know the presiding officer has a great interest in that subject as well, and she and i have worked on that together. i propose that we create summer academies for outstanding teachers in united states' history. ted kennedy was on the floor. he was chairman or ranking member of the committee that handles that at the time. he came over and said, i'll g you some cosponsors. xt thi i knew he had 20 democratic cosponsor for my little bitty bill that i had introduced and however well i thought of him before that, i thought even better of him after that. i think it's a small example of why he was so effective here in what he really cared about. i remember his talking about taking his family once a year --

his extended family -- to some important place in america, someplace that made a difference. he was especially taken with their trip to richmond, i believe it was, where they went to the place where patrick henry went down on one knee and made his famous address. i gs one interest he -- i guess 1 reason he was so interested in united states history is because his family were and are such a part of it. he made a difference in what we call the teaching and learning e teaching of american history. on another occasion he called me up to his hidaway, he was here long enough to have a great room sowhere, it has a great view of the capitol to talk about gettysburg and what we could do about that. and working with senator byrd. on legislation that would tie the teaching of american history to our national parks, which are -- which we're celebrating this

year with ken burns new movie to try to use those nearly 400 national park sites that we have to teach american history. david mccullough and i talked about david mccalla and john adams tching a group of teachers is one example. that turned to what would ted kennedy do to find an propriate place to honor john adams in washington, d.c., and that was another pie of unfinished busins that ted kennedy left that others of us will have to continue to work on. that's why he got alo so well here. when he cast his 1,500th vote, i remember sing tt the sureired way to bring a republican audience to his speech was to make a speech against high taxes, against more federal control and against ted kennedy and he laughed that great, big laugh of his.

but it was true. but almost everyone on this side will say that there was no one on that side who we would rather work with on a specific piece of legislation because no matter how much we might disagree with him, and we certainly did on many issues, when it got to the point where itas time to decide, can we do something, he was ready to do something and his word was good and his ability to -- to help pass an important -- an important piece of legislation was un-- unquestioned. plus we liked him. we liked his spirit. we liked his personality. my first engagemen with senator kennedy was as a young man when i came he in 1967 as a young aid to -- aide to then senator howard baker. senator baker was the son-in-law of senator dirksen, teamed up with ted kennedy and they took on the lions of the senate and

won the battle over one man, one vo. i was the legislative assistance on this side and jim flun was the legislative assistance on that -- assistant on that side. i'm here, as we all are, to pay our respect to senator kennedy. maybe some of can help with some of that unfinished business with making surehat we expand the idea of teaching american history in our tional parks, the larger numbers of outstanding teachers and outstanding students of united states history, that we can continue the effort to do something about the long lines of adults in america who are waiting to learn our common language -- english. that was very -- ted was very interested in that, as i am. but most of all, what i'd like to say is what i believe mt of us feel. we'll miss him. we'll miss his big voice.

we'll miss his big smile. and we'll mis his big presence. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a sator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: madam president, i am deeply honored to pay tribute today to ted kennedy and to honor his extraordinary legacy. i will always thinkf senator kennedy as many think of him, as the lion of the senate. from that seat, that seat in the back of this beautiful senate chamber, he used his powerful voice to speak out for those voices who were rarely heard. i also have described ted as the drumr in an orchestra, in a large orchestra. ted kennedy, a steady drumbeat,

a steady drumbeat for justice, for fairness, for compassion, and for progress. and on days when the senate wasn't that interested in listening, on days when maybe the polls were against them, on days when his compassion might have not been in fashion, that drumbeat got louder and louder and louder because ted kennedy knew that at the end of the day, the values that he stood for would be embracedgain. ted never let us forget why we're here. never. and he always reminded us to be courageous. and he always reminded us to be strongn fighting for the causes we believed in. not by lecturing us about i

but by being brave, being strong, being courageous, taking on the tough issues. nine long years standing in the back of the chamber, talking about raising the minimum wage, explaining why peopl needed it. nine long years, but he knew the drumbeat would go on until we passed it. and we did. ted kennedy had genuinend deep friendships here in the senate on both sides of the ais. his greatest legislative skill was to know every senator and to know their passions. when i first came to the senate in the early 1990's, i spent ten years in the hse, senator kennedy was already an icon. but he knew that i was passionate about health issues, and in particular women's health issues. so even though i was new to the

senate, he came to me when he was managing a bill on the floor to protect the rights of women who were ting to get into reproductive health care clinics. at that time protest erts were blocki -- protesters were blocking the entrances to the health care clinics so the women could not get in and get treated. so senator kennedy wrote a bill that simply said it's fine to express your views, but you cannot block women or individuals from entering those clinics. it's dangerous, it's wrong and you're denying women health care. senator kennedy asked me if i would be his lieutenant. that was his word. his lieutenant and help him manage that bill on the floor of the united states senate. clearly i was so pleased. it was such a thrill to watch him work. and like so many of ted kennedy's bills, it passed and

it became the law of he land, and women can get health care without being intimidated and frightened and harmed. later, when he was championing that bill to increase the minimum wage -- and he did it year after year after year -- he asked me and the other women of the senate to come to the floor and to organize and speak about the impact raising the minimum wage would have on women and families across the country. and he said, "barbara, you know, 60% of people on the minimum wage are women. a lot of our colleagues think it's teenagers. it's not true. it's women. they're suppting their families. can you help me with this?" i said, "senator, i'm all over it. i'm with you." and the wen of the senate had a special role to come to the floor, unfortunately, nine years in a row, until we made the case

that it was important that america's families working so hard could actually afford to live in this, the greatest country of all. although ted had deeply-held views, he worked beautifully with members across the aisle. and we have colleague after colleague coming down to speak about their experiences he was an expert at finding the thread of common ground. and sometimes it wasust a tiny, little strand of commonality, but he could weave it into something bigger and bigger and come to an agreement without losing his principles. ted's legislative work has touched t lives ofvery american, and i think it's going to take five, six, seven, ten of us to pick up this void that he has left. i'm so proud that tom harkin, who has just come to the floor,

will be the chairman of the "help" committee, because tom shared with ted those deep feelings about us being here not to champion the voices of those who have a very strong voice, but for those who really don't have a strong voice. the middle-class, the workers, the working poor, the families,@ the children, they don't have a voice here. ted kennedy worked to help get 18-year olds the right to vote. he made it easier for americans to change jobs and keep their health insurance. he expanded head start programs. he wrote the law creating mls on wheels. he was the driving force behind the civil rights act of 1964. the americans wit disabilities act, and the family and medical leave act. many of these, senator harkin and he partnered up on. he led effortso reform the

nation's immigration system, never a popular issue. a tough, hard issue. he worked to increase competition in the airline industry. he worked to protect women from violent crime. virtually eve major hlth care advance of the last four decades bears his mark, whether it's the chip program, the ryan white care act, cobra, the mental health parity bill, increased funding for cancer research. the list goes on and on and on. senator kennedy was once asked whatis best quality was as a legislator, and he answered with a single word: persistence. persistence. and that's a message to all of us on both sides the ais. if we believe something in our heart is right, you don't give up. you don't give up.

because progress takes time. piece by piece every year for almost a half a century, he advanced the causes he believed in: expanding access to health care, educating our children, extending civil rights, helping our society's least fortunate. and i will say if we were i danger of losing our way in the senate, senator ted kennedy held steady. he stayed true to his ideals. that is why it's fitting that his new biography is entitled "true compass." in many ways he was a compass here in the united states senate, and i want to thank the people of massachusetts for sending ted kennedy to us for these last 47 years. he loved his state. he fought for you as he fought for all americans. i want to thank his wife, vicky,

who gave him souch joy, and the entire kennedy family for sharing ted kennedy with us. i will miss his warm and engaging presence, his sense of humor, his bellowing laughter and the way he reached out to all senators in friendship. no one person will ever be able to fill his shoes. no one. he was a one of-of-a-kind irreplaceable. but we know how to honor his legacy. we know how to fill this vod, and that is by continuing his life's work. i believe the most fitting tribute we can give him is to carry on his fight for a quality education for all our children, affordable health care that our families can rely on, and an economy that works for everyone. ted kennedy came from a privileged and renowned family, but he saw so much suffering in

his lifetime. so much loss. he saw what happens in your family when two of your three children have cancer. and even though you have every bit of financial stability to give tm what they need, he saw how hard it was. and theto have another child with an addicon, and the pn of that. and so what senator ted kennedy understood i if it is so hard for me to see my children suffer, whatust it be like for someone without the financial resources or someone who had an insurance company walk away from them at the time they needed it the most? they needed help the most.

ted kennedy could put himself in other people's shoes, and that's what he did every single day, even when it was hard for him to get up from his chair, he stood up and he fought. as he said during his concession speech at the 1980 democratic national convention, "for all those whe cares have been our concern, the work goes on. the cause endures. the hope still lives. and the dream shall never die." and i say, ted, and to his family, i believe these words are true. the hope still lives and the dream shall never die. thank you. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi.

mr. cochran: madam president, it's difficult to imagine or accept the fact that ted kennedy is no lonr serving in the united states senate. he was such a presence here, a big man with a big smile and a bigger heart. sympathetic to those in need and willing to do all he could to address their needs. he got results: improving and expanding federal programs to make available education and nutrition befits to more americans than ever before. i first met the senator from massachusetts when he was running in his first campaign for the senate in 1962. it was a happenstance meeting. i was an instructor at the nal officers candidate school in newporort, rhode island, and a friendnvited me to hyannis

port during the weekend. i ended up at ted and joan kennedy's house. he was there working with his friends from massachusetts on fund-raising activities. we exchanged greetings, and he said you're in law school? i said yes, i am. he said it's hard as hell, isn't it? i said it sure is. well, that was about all the conversation we had that day, and i had no idea, first of all, how his campaign would turn out, and certainly the most remote thing in my mind would have been my being a member of the united states senate. but he and his wife, joan, were spending summer in highansport near -- hyannisport near the other family members and enjoying the weather in new england was a real treat. but instead of polits, w talked about how hard law school was. i didn't think i'd ever see him again. i had no reason to think i

would, much less end up serving here in the senate with him and serving the day he took charge as chairman of t judiciary committee from my predecessor in the senate. it was a d that attracted a lot of attention. the hearing room was absolutely full of people. as a matter of fact, the news media were all over the place. it was hard to get near the seats of the committee members. i remember alan simpson and i were the two most junior republicans, and as we were trying to get situated there at the end of the row of seats of committee membersone of the cameramen bumped alan in the head with his camera. alan told him he shouldn't do that again, he might have a hard time tpaoeupblgd his cam -- finding his his cam. that is the kind of excitement that ted kennedy bught not only to the judiciary committee, his leadership as a brand new

chairman, but his entire career reflected that kind of e iewb e. you can make a long list of the things he did in terms of legislative accomplishments, political leadership here in the senate. but he was a good person. he was a thoughtful person and generous with his house. he invited all the committee members of the judiciary committee toome out for dinner at his house here in washington. what a nice, thoughtful thing to do and whatn excitingening it turned out to be. everyo enjoyed it to enormously. but he bece a ver determined advocate for serious reforms and left an impressive record of legislative accomplishment. protecting and enlarging the civil rights of ordinary

citizens. i came to respect senator kennedy and appreciate his friendship over the years that we served together in the senate. his personal qualities, generosity, his serious commitment to frness. and assistance for those who needed help from their government will long be remembered and appreciated. may he rest in peace. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i thank my dear friend from mississippi for his kind wds. i know they wi be appreciated by the kennedy family. before i begin, i ask that unanimouconsent request come before my comments, i have seven unanimous consent requests for

committees to meet during today's session of the senate with the approval of the majority and minority leaders i ask unanimous consent the requests be agreed to and printed in the record. the presiding ofcer:ithout objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: madam president, i think when i hear the senator from mississippi, before him, the senator from illinois, the senator from california, the senator from massachusetts and others who have spoken, it brings back so many memories. the memory i have was on august 26th, when, very, very early in the morning we heard the news about senator kennedy, now,

marcel and i knew the day was coming ande would lose a close friend o over 35 years. but our farmhouse in vermont was still filled wh grief on lending of the ns. we walked back and forth in the ro in front of the house looking out over the mountains and finding it hard to put in words how we felt. we left vermont to come dow and join vicky at the herm service in boston -- at the memorial service in boston and so many offered touching stories how they remembered senator kennedy. ted kennedy, jr., gave an

incredibly moving tribute to his father. i told him afterward that senator kennedy, that's the kind of eulogy he would have liked it was so irish. senator ted kennedy made -- ted kennedy jr. made us all laugh and he made us all cry almost in the same sentence. how irish. how kennedy. how true were the emotions of every man and woman in that church from the president to the vice president to former presidents, to senators, to members of the house, t close friends and so so many, many of the kennedy family.

i think of being sworn in to this body, madam president, as a 34-year-old nervous senator. one of the fst to came up to shake my hand after being sworn in was ted kennedy. and mike mansfield and howard baker. and i was just. >> ed to think i was in the presence of such people. and thenerving with ted for 35 years, speaking with him almost every single day, i look over at his desk -- something i have seen over the 35 years when we

have lost colleagues but i don't kow of any time it has hurt so much to see the black drape across his desk. to see the vase ofhite no white owers. i went by yesterday and put my hand on th on the des i was overcome with emotion and left the floor. i have so many memories as we all do of our friendship. senator durbin spoke about how ted kennedy had a way no matter who you were, if you had tragedy in your family or an illness, something would happen, he would call, he would write, he would offer help. it made no difference who you were. i was very, very close to my father. he medicine ted a number of time -- he met ted a number of

times and when my father passed away, virtually the first telephone call my mother received that morning wasrom ted kennedy. i remember my mother taking comfort in that. senator kennedy's office is just one floor above mind in the russell senate building. we both stayed there all these years. on many occasions, especially when we were going for a vote we could hear his great laugh echoing do the halls. it could change your whole mood. we often talked of the bond of the new englandish irish. we spoke about that and came back together from pope john paul's funeral and refueled in

ireland, and it was like the pied piper with the paintings of president kennedy and i see senator harkin on the floor -- he remembers that. we walked through there with ted and senator dodd telling irish stories. these memories are going out when he was walking the dolgs outside of russell -- dogs outside of russell and chatting about, how is your family? how's this one or that one? someone we had just talked abut. after he died a newspaper in vermont had a front-page picture that my wife, marcel, had taken, back in 1968. ithowed a young ted kennedy in vermont campaigning for his brother, robert, and talking with a eve younger states

attorney of the county. the two of us there talki about robert kennedy. i gave that photograph to ted a few years ago. i fop it in my archives and he chuckled and talked about how young we looked and then asked for another copy so he could sign one to me. ted, that day, we sat there and talked about his brothers. obviously the president and senator kennedy, also his brother, joe kennedy who had died. i talked about being interviewed by his brother, rober kennedy, was the attorney general and he invited me down to the department of justice. young law student talked to me about the possibility of a

career in the department of justice. and how that talk had meant so much to me when his brother told me how independent the department of justice must be even from the president of the united states. you know, we never have enough time in this body. a roll call started, the conversation stopped but i remember every bit of that so much. i remember after that time i campaignedor robert kennedy the next te i saw him was here as senator-elect and as a young prosecutor i walked io his office to talk about, with trepidation and almost thinking of coming into the inner santum

to talk about what committees i ght go on and this great voice "i'm, senator," coming from him. and i turned around actuay assuming a senator was walking behind me and realized he was talking to me. his wonderful wife, vicky, was part of a small book club in my wife, marcel, was in that. and the days they would meet, ted would come up and put his arm around my shoulder and say, patrick, we're in trouble today. our wives are meeting. our wives are meeting a tonight we're going to get our mar change orders. you know what, madam president? was right. all the years i served on the judiciary committee until this past year i sat beside him. i am going to miss him on the judiciary committee.

i'm going to miss his help and his advise. i'm going to miss him on the senate floor because not having him with us in the senate will make a huge difference in negoations on legislation whether it's on the current issue of health care reform or any other issue. i remember one meeting with ronaldeagan whene was president and he turned to him, several of us were down there meetg, republicans and democrats, and he said, thank goodness you are here, ted, you are bringing usogether. and that difference extended beyond our shores. he personally made such a difference in bringing peace to ireland and ending apartheid in south africa. i remember going with former president clinton i ireland after the peace agreements and everyone would thank the prime minister of ireland, the prime minister of great britain, president clint and they all

wanted to come over and thank ted kennedy his sense of his and firm in believing in america's promise and america's future was inspiring. his willingness to spend time in the mos -- with the most junior senators of either party made him a senator's senator. i think every single senator, republican or democt, would agree he was a senator's senator. and it's easy in politics to appeal to the self-interests in each of us. ted kennedy appealed to the best in us, to the american stories written not in wat but on storm. he appealed to our sense of justice, to our sense of responsibility to each other, to our use-uniqueness involving

voting rights, immigration reform and so much more. the powerful have never lacked champions. but ted kennedy was a champio for ordinary americans, for those who struggle, and for those who did not have a champion. he believed everyone in this great land deserved the opportunity to pursue the american dream. i thought last night at the president's speech, talking with -- before the speech with mrs. kennedy, after the speech with senator kennedy's three childrechildren -- it was just impossible to put fully in words how much i'll miss him. as marcel and i missur friend dearly, we know ther that it waa privileged to call him our friend. it was a privilege to serve

alongside such aublic servant, dedicated as he was to making better the lives of millions of his felow americans. it is a sad passing of an era. ted kennedy also would tell us, it is a time to look into the future. madam president, i close with this: i always thought when i left the senate i had sea say farewell to this body and ted kennedy would be he. -- to wish me godspeed. i wish him godspeed. hatch madam president, i want to thank all of our colleagues who have taken time to km here to the floor to speak for and on behalf of our great friend and colleague, senator ted kennedy. i particularly enjoyed these remarks by the distinguished senator from vermont, who has

served with him for many years. i only served 33 years with ted. i just want to thank them for theiremarks and for the reverence that most everybody has had for our departed lleague. i rise today to offer my remarks on the passing of my dear friend and colleague, senator ted kennedy. over this pat past recess, america lost one of its greatest leaders and this chamber lost one of its most dynamic and important members. i mourn the loss not only of a respected colleague but of a dear personal friend, and i think i speak for all colleagues when i say that senator kenzie will be missed and the senate is a lesser place without him here. people have often remarked about the working relationship i had with senator kennedy, oftentimes calling us the -- quot-- "odd couple" -- unquote. we used to laugh about that, but the truth be told, he and i really didn't agree on a lot of

things many over the years senator kennedy and i were on opposite sides of some of the fearest battles in this chamber's history. while we have been long good friends, we didn't pull any punches on one another. if we were opposing each other in the debate, senator kennedy would come to the floor and in his classic style he'd lay into me with his voi raised and he had a terrific voice, and his arms flailing. and of course i'd let him have it right back. but then after he'd finish, he'd finally come over and put his arm around me and say, "how was that?" well, i would always laugh about it, as we did. we laughed at each other all the time. now that's what set senator kennedy apart from many here in washington. for him, politics rarely got personal. he was never afraid to voice his disagreement with the views of a fellow senator, but in the end i believe he always maintain add warm and cordial relationship with almost every one of his colleagues. that's difficult to do sometimes, particularly when

partisan tempers flare u but it always seemed to come easy for senator kennedy. despite our tendency to disagree on almost everything, senator kennedy and i were able to reach common ground on the one hand many important occasions. and on many important issues. as i mentioned at the recent memorial service, one of my defining moments as a senor came when i met with two families from provo, utah. the parents in these families were humble and hard-working and were able to provide food and clothi for their children and shelter for their children. but the one necessity they couldn't afford was health insurance. their children were children of the working poor. the struggles of this family touched me and inspired me to work with senator kennedy to create the schip program which continues to provide health care coverage to millions of children of the working poor and others throughout the country and with passed with broad bipartisan support. over the years senator kennedy and i wer worked successfully tt

both republicans and democrats on board for a number of causes. we drafted a number of pieces of legislation that provide assistance to aids vicms, including the ryan white aids act. i named that bill right here on the floor with mrs. white sitting in the audience. we worked together along with senator harkin to create and pass the americans with disabilities act. there was also the orphan drug act as well as the f.d.a. modernization act as a whole raft of other bills that would take too many time to speak about all of which were bearing the hatch-kennedy, knedy-hatch name. ourinal collaboration came just this year in the form of the edward m. condition did i "serve america" act which i was pleased to name after senator kennedy. right here on the floor, and he came up afterwards and we hugged each other and then we went back to the president's room and he had pictures, even though he wasn't feeling well.

just so many pictures with so many people who were involved. all of our bills passed because of the willingness of senator kennedy and myself to put consensus ahead of partisanship, something we see far too infrequely here in washington. it is axiomatic in politics that timing is crucial. no one understood or practiced that principle better than senator kennedy. he had a sixthense and an open mind to notice when the time was right for the key compromise. he knew when it let event eventt and when it was time to close the deal. more importantly, he knew what he stew shoo stick to his guns and when he needed to reach across the aisle to get the represent of his republican colleagues. he was always able to recognize and work those who shared his goals. i'll never forget, after i had made the deciding voted on civil rights for institutionalized persons, it was a hatch bill.

later came the voting rights act. and i thought very strongly not to put the effects tes in section 2. i didn't have any problem with it being in section 5 but i didn't want it in section 2, so that it applied too all the other states. lost in committee. i voted for the bill out of committee because i consider the voting rights act the most important civil rights bill in history. the day they were going to go down and have the bill signed down at the white house, e caught me right inside the russel building where we both had offices and said, you're coming with us, aren't you? i said, well -- i was of course against the change in section 2. he said, but you votedor it? you were very helpful in helping to get that bill passed. and i know how deeply you feel about t so i d i went down with him. and i wouldn't have gone had it not been for senator kennedy recognizing that i did feel

deeply about the voting rights act. an even though i lost on what i thought it was a pivotal constitutional point, the fact of the matter is i voted for the bill. now, at the risk of rallying my more liberal colleagues near in the senate, i would like to point utah that senator kennedy shared an utterly optimistic view of the american experiment with president ronald reagan. they both deeply believed that whatever the current trials or challenges we must face as a nation, america's best days are ahead of her. that's something that many people do not appreciate we enough about senator kennedy because of his optimism and hope for our nation's future, senator kennedy was, throughout his career in the senate, a great practioner of the latin motto carpe diem, "seize the day. few worked harder throughout the day than ted kennedy and as a result every senator had to work a little bit harder either to follow his lead if you were on the same side of an issue, or stand in his way, if you were his opposition. i've been on both positions.

i'm nolt saying that it was inherently difficult towork with senator kennedy. but as anyone who has negotiated a tough piec of legislation can till, it can be sheer drudgery, even when you agree on most issues. but senator kennedy brought a sense of joy to even the most contentious negotiating sessions. and when you were working with senator kennedy, you knew that he'd keep his word. if, after these long sessions, an agreement was reached, he'd stick by it, no matter how much heat he'd have to take. all of this was no doubt thd result of his love for this great institution and his commitment to the american people. political differences notwithsnding, there can never be any doubt about senator kennedy's patriotism few had a presence in the senate as large as senator kennedy's. more often than not, you could hear him coming down the hall, a mini hurricane, with a batch of amendments in one hand and a stack of talkingpoints in the

other. he was almost always effective but seldom very quiet. i also wanted to share -- i want to share a few thoughts about his staff. while at the end of the day the full responsibilitof the senate falls squarely upon the shoulders of each senator, it is also true that during the day and often long into the night and on many weekends much of the work of the snaft is conducted by a group of the most committed team of staff workers of any institution anywhere. throughout his career, it was known that the kennedy sff was comprised of one of the most formidable and dedicated collections of individuals in the senate, many of them going on to have distinguished careers, including now justice stephen bryan. dr. larry horowitz o managed his health care right up to the end and loved ted dupely, rick littlefield who ran the labor committee for senator kennedy, was an advisor rieht up until

the time senator kennedy passed away. and of course michael meyers, just to name four with no intention of leaving out all the others. senator kennedy would be the first to recognize how their efforts contributed to his success. i want to salute them for their hard work over the years. i cannot exactly say that i have always been totally pleased with all of the kennedy staff all of the time, but as is true of their boss -- or was true of their boss, while we might have been frequent adversaries, we were never enemies. madam president, i'm saddened by the loss of my dear friend, senator kennedy. i will miss him personally. i will miss the fights in public. i will miss his sense of humor in private andublic, and perhaps more significantly, i believe this cmber will miss his talents as a legislator. and most of all, his leadership. while i can't say that i hope more of my colleagues will adopt

his views on policy, i hope that morph us can adopt his approach to the legislative process. i was there in california giving a speech at a fund-raiserhen they came in with a cell phone and said, senator kennedys on the line, and he sounds very agitated. so i wt out on the plaza, i said, "ted, what's the matter?" he said, "oh, i have great news for you." he said -- h i said, what's tha? he said, i'm going to get married again. i said, do i know her? he said, no, but you would love her. she has two wonderful children. i am going to adopt them and treat them as my own. and i'm so heavment i said, well,ed, why would you call me in california? he said, well, her daughter was bragging to her elementary

school teacher at that time that her mother was going to mayor ted kennedy. and the elementary school teacher was married to a "washington post" reporter. i wanted you to be one of the first to know. i am very happy i'm going to marry vicky reggie. i've come to know vky very, very muc she sha's made such a difference in his life and in his family's life. she's a tremendous human being. as are hishildren, their terrific. i was happy to be in the catholic church where teddy went to pray for his daughter every day he could when she was suffering from cancer. i know how deeply he feels about patrick and teddy jr. i thought they did a terrific job at the mass at his feral.

he's got to be very, very proud of them. i'm very proud of them. i think vicky kennedy deserves an awful lot of credit for all of the later happy years of my friend ted kennedy. and i want her to know that i love her dearly for what she did and as an individual herself, and i love ted kennedy's entire family. a number of them have come to me at times where ias able to help them because he couldn't as a member of the family. now, i have to say, was close to a great number of the members of his family, and i really, really appreciate them as well, and the influence that they had on him and he had on them. he had a great influence on me as well. i just want to personally thank him for it and say to my dear friend and colleague, as i look at