his creativity and his fearlessness combine to make tom one of florida's most influential everglades leaders. he's been a man that is proud to serve his country and his community. it goes back to the time that he interrupted his college career to volunteer for the marines. he served in the korean war. and over the course of his life, he has continued this service as a dedicated public servant, a respected judge and a respected prosecutor.

in his family, he's a dedicated father and grandfather who obviously has always found great happiness with that ever-expanding family of his, and the relentless efforts that he undertakes to preserve florida's natural heritage is a legacy gift certainly to his family, to his colleagues but to all of us floridians, indeed to us as residents of planet earth. he served two years in the marines, earned his degree with honors, a law degree, associate editor of the florida law review. he became the youngest circuit judge serving in a district in central florida.

he was the brevard county solicitor, he was special assistant state attorney, he was county attorney for seminole county. he was assistant to the florida governor, and he served as a member of the florida land sales board. i knew thom back in those early days in melbourne and brevard county as we were experiencing the explosive growth at the time of the nation's attempt to catch up with the soviet union since they had surprised us by putting up sputnik and then later beat us into orbit with uri gargaren before we could get alan shepherd into sub orbit and ultimately john glenn into orbit. and those were exciting times. i will never forget one time i heard thom as we were sitting around one day, he says i'm just

impatient having to sleep because i'm so excited about getting up in the morning and going out and doing all these things, and of course i just listed all of those important positions of public service. along the way, thom became a good friend of another brevard countian, george barley -- well, actually, i think george was from orange county. george was married to mary, and both of them dedicated their lives to restoration of the everglades. george and mary established the everglades trust and the everglades foundation, and then when george died in a very tragic death back in 1995, thom

joined with mary to make sure that george barley's dream of a restored everglades became a reality. thom was an active member of the republican party, but i can tell you that the friendship between us, partisan membership didn't mean anything. we had a personal friendship, and you could often see that as he engaged in public service, but that was especially so when it came to the preservation and the restoration of the everglades. and his success extends other than this community and country service to a career in private practice, one of the founding partners of rumberger, kirk and

calwell, and under thom's leadership, the firm's modest beginnings were quickly surpassed as it moved to all kinds of new legal successes. and today, that firm includes 75 trial attorneys in five offices all across several southern states. and, of course, he has been listed as one of florida's super lawyers every year for the last several years. you know, the legend has it that thom rumberger once convinced a federal judge to allow a real automobile in the courtroom as evidence. he convinced the judge to have a window in the courtroom enlarged in a historic courthouse, nonetheless, to accommodate a crane that lifted the car right

into the courtroom. and he has been known throughout his life for his infectious sense of humor. often referred to because he had so many different careers, some derisively as a career chamelion , thom worked his way all the way through college, all the way up to these present successes. now, let me tell you what he did to support himself and to pay for his college education. a lot of people don't remember ross allen's reptile institute in ocala at silver springs. guess what the main attraction was. the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. and thom's job, of which he

earned enough money to put himself through school, was to milk those rattlesnakes. now, clearly that's a tourist attraction because that's a fascinating thing when you see that thing coiled up ready to strike and you stick a stick down there and pin his head and then reach down behind the head and pick him up and you've got this six-foot rattlesnake. but there's a purpose to this other than charming your guest. you squeeze behind that head, and the mouth opens, and those two fangs come out, and you put those fangs down into a glass, and you milk that rattlesnake. and that poisonous venom then collected and stored becomes the basis for the anti-snakebite

serum that has saved so many lives. i remember one time he actually went back after he had been judge and prosecutor and all these things and he told me he was invited to come back to ross allen's reptile institute and he said when he walked into that cage with all those rattlesnakes, he said that snake looked so big, he didn't remember the snakes looking that big when he was a college kid earning his way through college. thom promises that it was right there in that snake pit that he learned the skills of public speaking and working with the public, because he had to explain how he was milking the

rattlesnake to all of the guests that were there, and obviously he had their attention. he even enjoyed a brief acting career as a stunt man for the movie "the creature of the black lagoon"? remember that one that scared the wits out of all of us when we were children, "the creature from the black lagoon"? so he's had quite a few varieties in his life, and of course he's generously committed himself to public service beyond the positions that i've already mentioned he was appointed to florida's federal judicial advisory commission and the board of supervisors of spaceport, florida, and presently he is chairman of the

everglades trust. and he served as chairman of the collins center for public policy named after one of our great governors of florida, former governor and now deceased, governor leroy collins. and he's been a member of the board of visitors of the florida state college of law and the board of trustees for the law center association as the university of florida. he's represented about every environmental organization, safe the manatee, the everglades trust, save our everglades. he's been the lead counsel for the everglades foundation well past two decades. and so notably, thom was instrumental in the passage of two everglades-related florida constitutional amendments.

the federal comprehensive everglades restoration plan, and in obtaining several billion dollars in funding for everglades restoration. that has been one of my primary duties here as the senior senator from florida, and i've worked with him over the years on this everglades restoration. and he's been primarily responsible for florida's acquisition of one of our natural resources, the 75,000-acre babcock ranch on the southwest part of florida, which now provides necessary corridors for wildlife, especially the endangered florida panther. and in the late 1980's, thom worked to implement some of the first manatee protection laws. well, this is a four-decade long

continuing service of public service. he's demonstrated the importance of looking out for the common good. you know, i just did an interview today in the aftermath of our vote today on what started out to be highly contentious on what we were going to resolve in debt reduction and deficit reduction, with the pending guillotine handing over our head at the default that would occur at 12:00 tonight which has now been averted. and the reporter that was asking me in this interview said well, why is it that everything is so contentious and people are all so wrapped up in their selves and they talk past each other, and they're only looking out for

their own, and they don't respect the other fellow's point of view? thom rumberger represents that kind of person who always respected the other person's point of view, so when it was time to draw up the solution to whatever the problem was, then the parties could come together and find that consensus. now, that has been sorely lacking in washington around this country. we saw a shining little moment yesterday and today. yesterday on the house of representatives with an overwhelming vote, today on the floor of the senate with an overwhelming vote to start the process of deficit reduction.

and it's folks like thom rumberger that we ought to be looking to in how they have demonstrated their community service instead of what we have seen play out over the last several months. and so thanks to the selfless commitment of folks like thom, america's everglades will be restored for the benefit of future generations, and so it's not just florida, it's america that owes thom a great deal of gratitude. and my bride, grace, of 40 years, who has known thom almost as long as i have, joins me in thanking him and his

wife, debbie, for their many, many contributions to florida's treasured landscapes. madam president, i yield the floor and i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: