concur --. the presiding officer: first, under the previous order all postcloture time is expired. mr. alexander: i move to table the motion to concur with the amendment. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to table. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the question is on the motion to concur. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the ayes are 94, the nays are 5. the motion is agreed to.

the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the conference report company s. 2943, the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 201, signed by 16 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the conference report accompanying s. 2943, an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities of the department of defense, for military construction and for defense activities of the department of energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll.

vote: vote:

vote: vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not on this vote the yeas are 92. the nays are 7. three-fifths of the senators

duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the conference report. the clerk: conference report to accompany s. 2943, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities, the department of defense, for military construction and for defense activities of the department of energy to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware.

a senator: suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the vice president: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the vice president: it is in a quorum call. mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with the following members -- the vice president: the senate is in a quorum call.

mr. coons: forgive me. the vice president: is the senator seeking -- mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be vitiated. the vice president: without objection. the senator from delaware. mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent that the following senators be recognized for up to four minutes each. senators who wish to speak in honor of the presiding officer. myself, the majority leader, senator mcconnell, minority leader senator reid, senator schumer, senator hatch, senator leahy, senator mccain, senator durbin, senator isakson, senator feinstein, senator collins, senator mikulski, senator kirk. mr. reid: i am asking the senator from delaware if he would amend his request for senator mcconnell. i will use our leader time. that won't count against his hour. the vice president: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the senator from delaware. mr. coons: thank you, mr. president, and it does bring me some joy to call you

mr. president. i'm honored to be here today with so many of our colleagues, and i am grateful to majority leader mcconnell and leader reid for their support in pulling together this bipartisan tribute. i'm honored to be joined by my senior senator from delaware, tom carper, who will make the closing remarks this afternoon. before we begin, i'd like to remind my colleagues that there will be a reception for the vice president in the mansfield room after we conclude here, beginning sometime after 4:00. we have many senators who wish to speak, and so we will move quickly through the order. and i encourage my colleagues to submit their remarks for the record, those who are not able to speak in the next hour. their remarks will be combined with all the other remarks given on the floor and the resulting speeches printed, bound and presented to the presiding officer. mr. president, in a place known these days for some disagreements, my colleagues, our colleagues, republicans, democrats and independents, are all here today because we agree on one powerful and simple thinr the difference that you've made in your decades in public

service. the greatest honor of my life is to serve in the seat that you held for 36 years, and not just literally this seat in the senate but also a seat on the 7:15 amtrak train down from wilmington every morning. you logged over two million miles on amtrak and millions more traveling around the world fighting for our country, and as long as i have the privilege of representing our state in the senate, i'll be humbled by the challenge of living up to your legacy, of fighting for and making a real difference for the people of our shared home. like so many americans, i've long been inspired by your loyalty to your family, and i'm so glad to see so many familiar faces in the gallery today. this job requires a strong partner and a teammate, and to dr. bidden, to jill, your unwavering support of your family, for delaware and your country, is something for which we are all deeply grateful. mr. president, as the son of delaware and of katherine and

eugenis and joe sr., you've never forgotten from whom you came and for whom you are fighting. even as vice president, our fellow delawareans have the blessing of a surprise visit week in or week out of a surprise visit at columbus day. whether meeting personally with world leaders you've known for decades. whether chairing the judiciary or foreign relations committees or just stopping by claimont diner, there is universal agreement about what you have brought to this work, your passion, your heart, your character and your integrity. that's because you generally listen to people. you ask them questions and then you lift them up. we know that when you give us your word as a bidden, you mean -- a biden, you mean it and you will keep it. through challenging times, you always worked across the aisle through eight presidents. you were willing to reach across to anyone willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work for the american people. mr. president, so many families across delaware and this country

and i myself, as we've struggled with loss, maybe the loss of a job or loss of hope or the impending loss of a loved one, have experienced the incredible personal comfort and power of a call from you. when it comes to providing advice and inspiration that touches our hearts, it makes a real difference. no one, no one is better than you. we know you will share our challenges. you will give us meaningful comfort and encourage us, and that you will fight for us. as we look ahead to next year and beyond, i know you and jill have so much more great, good work to do, starting with the fight to cure cancer through the cancer moonshot. this next chapter will be every bit as exciting and meaningful as the life of service you've led for 44 years. what an honor to see you in the chair earlier this week as the majority leader led the senate in a unanimous vote to rename a title of the 21st century cures cancer initiative after beau. that bill which we passed finally just an hour ago would not have happened without your

leadership. now, mr. president, let me close with a line that you know all too well, a line you shared with me and many others countless times, sometimes from this very desk. as the irish poet shamus haney once wrote, history says don't hope on this side of the grave, but then once in a lifetime, the longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up and hope and history rhyme. no one, sir, no one has done more to make hope and history rhyme than you. thank you, mr. president. for your service, your counsel, your advice, your friendship and your leadership. it's now my pleasure to yield to the majority leader, senator mcconnell, of kentucky, who has been so generous with the floor time and support this afternoon. the vice president: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: it's great to see the presiding officer back in the senate.

good news for everyone when he is in the chair. good news for him, because as senator coons pointed out, the rest of us have to call him mr. president. good news for the rest of us because he has to let everyone else talk. the amazing thing is the man we honor today wasn't always a talker. he suffered from a debilitating stutter for most of his childhood. he was teased for it. but he was determined to overcome it. and so he did. with hard work, with determination, with the support of his family, it's classic joe biden, he's never stopped talking since. he cites overcoming that stutter as one of the most important lessons in his life. it led him down a path few might

have foreseen -- winning election to the county council, securing an improbable victory for the u.s. senate, becoming our nation's 47th vice president. now, the presiding officer would be the first to tell you that he has been blessed in many ways. he's also been tested, knocked down, pushed to the edge of what anyone could be expected to bear, but from the grip of unknowable despair came a new man, a better man, stronger and more compassionate. grateful for every moment, appreciative of what really matters. here in the senate, he heeded the advice of mike mansfield.

here is what senator mansfield had to say. your job here is to find the good things in your colleagues, and joe, never attack another man's motive because you don't know his motive. look for the good. don't attack motives. it's the basis of a simple philosophy and a very powerful one. vice president biden says his views -- he views his competitors as competitors, not enemies, and he has been able to cultivate many unlikely friendships across the aisle. with jesse helms, with strom thurmond, with me. over the years, we've worked together on issues of mutual interest like burma and regarding the vote we just took a few moments ago, 21st century cures and the cancer

moonshot. we have also negotiated in good faith when the country needed bipartisan leadership. we got results that would not have been possible without a negotiating partner like joe biden. obviously, i don't always agree with him, but i do trust him implicitly. he doesn't break his word. he doesn't waste time telling me why i'm wrong. he gets down to brass tacks, and he keeps in sight the stakes. there's a reason get joe on the phone is shorthand for time to get serious in my office. the vice president is a likable guy, too. he's got a well-developed sense of humor. he doesn't take himself too seriously either. when "the onion" ran a mock

photo of him in a transam in the white house driveway shirtless, america embraced it, and so did he. i think it's hilarious, he said, but by the way, i have a 1967 corvette, not a transam. so you see what i mean. joe biden may exist in the popular imagination aboard an amtrak, but this son of a used car salesman will always be a muscle guy at heart. and what a road he has traveled. from new castle to the naval observatory, from scranton to the senate. his journey in this body began by the side of those who loved him. hand on the bible, heart in a knot, swearing the same oath he

now administers to others. it's a journey that ends now by the side of those who care about him still, those like his wife jill who understand the full life he's lived. here's a man who's known great joy, who has been read his last rites and who has never lost himself along the way. champ, his father used to say, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down but how quickly he gets up. that's joe biden right there. unbowed, unbroken and unable to stop talking. it's my privilege to convey the senate's warm wishes to the vice president on this delaware day as the next steps of his long journey come into view.

there are many here who feel this way in both parties. i'm reminded of something the presiding officer said when he addressed the university of louisville several years ago. it was one of the mcconnell center's most popular lectures ever. and as i sat beside him, he offered his theory as to why that might be. i think you're all here today -- remember, these are young people, students. i think you're all here today because you want to see whether or not a republican and a democrat really like each other. well, he continued, flashing a smile, i'm here to tell you we do. it was true then and it's true today. so i hope the presiding officer won't mind if i conclude with some words directed to the chair. mr. president, you have been a real friend. you have been a trusted partner.

and it's been an honor to serve with you. we're all going to miss you. godspeed. the vice president: the minority leader. mr. reid: to everyone listening, joe biden's life has been the material of which movies are made. joe was born in scranton, pennsylvania, to joe and jean biden. he was the first of four children. as a young man, as you have heard today, and i have heard once in a while, not very often, senator biden talks about his stammering. he didn't get any professional help, no therapy. he did it on his own. long hours of reading, mostly poetry. he would stand in front of a mirror, recite the poetry time

after time after time, watching himself, make sure he didn't contort his face when he stammered or stuttered. this wasn't easy for a young man. people made fun of him. but he knew he could do it on his own. he felt that, and he did it. he worked hard. he developed a rhythm and a cadence of speed that helped him overcome his stutter that helped him become one of the united states senate's all-time great senators, without any qualifications. joe was an outstanding high school running back, wide receiver. his coach said he never had seen anyone with such hands. his coach saw in joe what we all see -- a hard worker who refuses to fail. his coach said, and i quote -- "joe was a skinny kid, but the

best pass receiver i had seen in my 16 years as a coach." close quote. in college, joe continued to display his at lettic prowess prowess, -- athletic prowess, playing football for the university of delaware. during his spring break in his junior year, it's quite a story. joe and i were traveling from indianapolis to reno, nevada, and he talked to me about this. just the two of us. i'll never fo -- i'll never forget that conversation. he and one of his college buddies had gotten a tax return. they were taking a little vacation away from the cold delaware. they went to florida. they frankly didn't like it. they had a few dollars left over from their tax returns, and they went, i believe it was to the bahamas, and they got kind of an inexpensive hotel. i was going to say cheap but let's say inexpensive hotel. right next to them was an exclusive hotel. and they noticed when the people

came out of the fancy hotel off that private beach, many times they would lay their towel on the fence. so joe and his pal said, well, those towels aren't even wet. so they went down to that private beach and it was there that he met a young woman by the name of neelia, neelia hunter. i'm sure just like jill, she must have been a knockout to look at. she went to the university of syracuse. she was on the dean's list. she had been homecoming queen. that was the beginning of a relationship that they had. joe had been smitten. after graduating from the university of delaware, he

moved to be closer to her. the story of their relationship is stunning. i repeat, it was something that miew sister are made of. without being too personal, but i'll say it the way it is, but it is a wonderful story because i can identify with it so well because of landra and me, there came a time when her father came to her and said he's not that much. he comes from a family that is not like ours, and she said, dad, stop because if you make me choose between you and joe, i'm going to choose joe. that was that relationship. as i repeat, landra and i understand that story quite well

they were married a short time later. they had three children: beau, hunter and naomi. after starting his law practice and starting as city councilman in new castle, delaware, joe stunned and embarrassed a few of his friends and relatives by saying he was going to run for the senate. you're going to run for the senate against a two-term incumbent? i think i can do it. i'm sure he said to himself, a lot of people said i couldn't overcome certain things, and i did. and i'm going to do my best to overcome this race i'm in -- i'm sorry -- way behind. joe and his family went at this as hard as they could. canvassed the entire state and pulled off an incredible upset.

joe biden was elected to the united states senate. in every respect joe's life has been unique. it's been special. his election to the senate was no different. the great constitution that leads this nation stipulates a person must be 30 years old to be elected to the senate. joe was 29 on election day. he turned 30 two weeks after the election. just a few weeks later -- a few weeks later -- tragedy struck and struck really hard. neilia and their three children were injured in a terrible accident just days before christmas. he had not been sworn as a senator yet. his wife was killed, baby girl

was killed and beau and hunter were grievously injured, hospitalized of course. to say joe was grief-stricken is an understatement. how can you describe how he felt i'm sure, as i've heard, he didn't know what to do. he had two boys to raise. he wasn't a man of great means. he strongly considered, i shouldn't be sworn in to the senate. i can't do this. but he had friends, people who didn't know him who were senators, who treated him as fathers. and with the help of valerie, his sister, joe biden's life may have been completely different, because with the support he got from her, the encouragement he got from

democratic and republican senators, and the fact she moved in and took care of beau and hunter to replace their mom, she was there for four years helping with those boys. joe is a remarkable man. when i was in the house of representatives, he agreed to come to the house in nevada for me. this is a big deal that this senior senator could come to nevada. he came. every place he traveled, he had one of his boys with him. with his sister's support and other members of his family, joe embarked upon a long, storied 36-year career that was productive and unsurpassed in the history of the senate. but that's not the end of joe's

difficulties. joe was, as you can see now, a very, very well-conditioned man. he always has been. but as a senator here, he suffered a massive bleed in the brain, and he was hospitalized for a long time. he didn't come to the senate for a long time. when i got hurt, one of the first people to call me was joe. he said, look, the fact that you're going to be missing a little time in the senate doesn't mean you can't be a good senator. and that was the example that joe biden set. he recovered and became chairman of the senate judiciary committee, foreign relations chair, author of many pieces of legislation. violence against women and too numerous to mention. he also met a woman who has been by his side for 40 years.

a love story unsurpassed. jill biden, an incredible, incredible love story. joe says it was love at first sight. his boys, it was the same with them. joe remembers the day that beau and hunter came to him with the recommendation. daddy, we're talking. we think we should marry jill. not he should marry jill. we should marry jill. direct quote. joe and jill were married. and before long beau and hunter had a new sister -- ashley -- and a new mom. there's not a family that i know of that's any closer, more tight knit than the bidens. joe biden loves his family above

all else. he's a good senator, terrific vice president, but he's a family man. for the last eight years as vice president, he's traveled the world. dignitaries, trouble spots on behalf of this country. ofttimes at the direction of president obama. and he has done it with dignity. more than a million miles. but as we've heard from the junior senator from delaware, that pales in comparison to the miles he's traveled on amtrak. more than two million miles on amtrak. he took every night home to delaware. every night he took the train home to delaware. if we worked here late he would go to a little hotel down here. he would have gone more than two

million miles if it had been necessary to take care of his boys and to be with jill. vice president biden's service has been historic. he's been the president's rock, his confidante and his friend. i've been told that not by joe biden but by the president. joe has had a stellar career as vice president of our great country. he's used his skills, his experience to help shape american diplomacy. vice president biden is helping lead the quest for a cure for cancer. his moonshot initiative is the most ambitious plan ever to accelerate cancer research. and i say through the chair to my friend, lamar alexander, this would not have happened but for the good man from tennessee. and we know that joe and jill know firsthand the pain and heartache caused by cancer and

the toll it takes on families. tragically just last year beau, somebody i knew well -- iraq veteran. didn't have to go to iraq. he did. attorney general of the state of delaware. he was diagnosed with terminal cancer which took his life. beau was a light to everyone who knew him, but especially his family. beau's passing broke joe, hunter and jill's heart and of course their sister. but with all the other challenges and setbacks, joe biden continues his life's work. he's still the same kid that his coach praised, his number-one asset, he works hard. he does the best he can. joe biden continues to serve his

country. he'll continue after january 20. he continues to do what is right. above all, he continues to love and care for his family. i've been gratified to call senator biden a man of the senate. senator biden, vice president biden, joe, he's an honest man. so steven spielberg, hollywood, you should be listening. joe biden's life is the stuff of which movies are made. i yield the floor. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: well, it is such a pleasure and honor to rise to recognize a great son of scranton, sitting next to me another son of scranton. the grandson of ireland. sitting in this chamber are many grandchildren of ireland. and a syracuse university

graduate. how many others in the room can say that? but more importantly than any of those, one of the most dedicated public servants, one of the most successful public servants i've ever had the pleasure to serve with during my time in washington. everyone knows joe's proud of his ancestry. his ancestors came from ireland, as many millions have. he's deeply proud of being an irish american. like so many others from the emerald isle, our vice president inherited the gift of gab. and thank god for that, because he's used his booming voice to speak out on so many issues. we only have a little time today. i know my colleagues are eager to speak. so i'll just focus on a couple of the, one of the issues that senator biden then led the charge on and changed america. i worked with him on the assault weapons ban and the brady law when he was a senator and i was

congressman and we were each head of the crime committees. but maybe the thing he was proudest of was the violence against women act. it sounds like a different world, but a few years ago, a few decades ago rape and domestic violence and abuse were considered in many ways lesser crimes, crimes in which the victim was as much at fault as the perpetrator. it was disgraceful. if you were beaten, abused, sexually assaulted, you faced a hostile, skeptical criminal justice system. that got at joe biden and his sense of justice. and so he exploded the myths behind domestic violence. i remember hearing the speeches against sexual abuse and put together the strongest ever violence against women law on the books. not only did the laws make women safer, it made men better, it moved our society forward.

our work on these issues is not nearly over, but there are, i am certain, literally millions of women who have avoided pain and suffering both physical and mental because of the courage, the steadfastness and the brilliance, the legislative brilliance of the then-senior senator from the great state of delaware. now, i could go on and on. you could almost write a book on accomplishments like that where joe really, almost single handedly changed the world. but it was also just a great friend and leader to so many of us. i'll conclude with one little story. i was elected to the house, to the senate after 18 years in the house. an issue i wanted to get going on was college affordability. long -- i had run for the senate on the promise of making college

tuition tax deductible. so i get to the senate and introduce my bill and make my speech. get ready to lead the way on what i thought was my issue. we've all experienced this. and a call comes if my office from joe's chief of staff. of course i spoke to him. mr. biden has been working on this issue for ten years. go work on something else. that was the nice version. of course me and my brand new office were in a panic. i was -- i didn't know what to do and sitting on the floor feeling really forelorned. why did i come here. i'm senior member of the house and i feel an arm on my shoulder and i look up. there is the revered and exalted senator joe biden. he says to me, i understand you have your college tuition tax

deduction bill. go ahead. take the issue. i know what it's like for new senators to carve their own path. how many times can any freshman say any senior senator have said they can say that to them. they can't. because he's unique. not only is he a towering figure and a superb man, but he has a good heart and he looks out for the members of this body. always has, does to this day, and always will because i know in joe's heart with all his accomplishments, he's still a senator, our senator. so, mr. president, i say to mr mr. vice president, thank you. thank you for your heart and passion. thank you no bringing every ounce of yourself to public service, and thank you for that lesson of humility and leadership you taught me when i first came to this chamber.

i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the vice president: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: mr. president, it's an honor for me to rise and talk about our friendship and what you've meant to this country. i lies today to pay tribute to a dedicated public servant, the distinguished leader and a dear friend, vice president joe biden. for more than three decades i had the distinct privilege of serving alongside joe in the united states senate. as anyone who worked closely with joe can tell you, he was no where near a senator. he had boundless energy and undeniable charm. he paired a work ethic with a disarming smile that dared you not to smile back. joe's innate ability to befriend anyone and i mean anyone including his fiercest political opponents was critical to his success as a legislate tur. his genuine si sincerity indeerd

him to his tran seconded partisan boundaries. even in the most polarizing debates, joe never let politics stand in the way of friendship. one minute joe could be scolding you from the senate floor. the next minute he could be hiding you in the hallway, cracking jobs and asking about your grandkids. i of course am speaking from plenty of personal experience. it's no secret that joe and i often found ourselves on opposite sides of almost every major issue. that's not quite true. we agreed on a lot of things. but in legislative battles, joe proved himself to be a worthy political opponent and an able sparring partner. whether on the senate floor or in the judiciary committee hearing room, joe and i locked horns on a number of occasions and sometimes on a daily basis. indeed we were at odds about as often as we were on c-span. but at the end of the day i couldn't help but admire the man. you see, mr. president, joe

biden was beloved by everyone in this chamber, even those he drove crazy from time to time. and i count myself among that group. through his ability to forge friendship, even amid conflict, he embodies the ethos of a noble generation of legislators, a generation that embraced the virtues of comity. i believe this body, indeed this nation could learn from joe's example of kindness, courtesy, and compassion. for 17 years then senator biden served as chairman and ranking member of the judiciary committee overseeing some of the most significant court appointments of our time. mr. president, chairing the senate judiciary committee is no easy task. i know because i've been there. the committee boasts some of the biggest egos on this side of the potomac or this side of the milky way for that matter. it takes a certain kind of

political genius to navigate the assertive personalities and lofty ambitions of its members, but joe was more than up to the task. as both chairman and ranking member, he was tough and tenacious but also decent and fair. and through his trademark work ethic, he won the respect of every member of that committee. joe also served admirably as the chairman and ranking member of the foreign relations committee. in this capacity he played an indispensable role in shaping american foreign policy. when president obama tapped joe to be his vice president, the senate lost a seasoned statesman but our nation gained a wise and capable leader with unparalleled experience in public affairs. joe was the administration's bridge to congress often serving as an intermediary between the president and legislators. on more than one occasion his close relationships with lawmakers and his deft

negotiating skills helped our nation overcome some of its greatest obstacles. he was the president's trusted emissary and an invaluable asset in helping congress resolve the fiscal cliff dilemma in late 2012, something i wasn't sure we could resolve. he was also a brilliant ambassador for our country leveraging his foreign policy expertise in meetings with leaders across the world. mr. president, i am 2k50e7ly grate -- deeply grateful for my friend joe biden. i've long admired his devotion to his family as well as his grace amid suffering and he did suffer and i know it. i was here. having experienced tremendous loss in his family life, he draws from a rich reservoir of empathy to connect with every day americans. ask anyone. vice president biden has served. when you speak, joe listens, he loves and he cares. he is perhaps the only -- let me

put it this way. he's perhaps the most personal public figure in american politics today. mr. president, in the nearly eight years he has served as vice president, joe biden has become a fixture of american public life. today i wish to join my colleagues in thanking vice president joe biden for his dedication to the american people. and although his tenure as vice president is drawing to a close, i am confident that his service to our nation will only contin continue. this is said by a republican who loves joe biden, who believes that he's one of the truly great people who served here in this body. i just want joe biden to know that we all respect him. and i think most all of us love him and most of us really appreciated him from time to

time. when he put politics aside, put his arm around us and spoken the truth. joe biden is a wonderful man and i wish him the absolute best as we go into the future, and i'll be there to help if he needs it. god bless joe biden. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the vice president: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i enjoy calling you by that title. i hope you do, too. because you know that you could easily hold that title as president of this body or president of the united states, you've shown your qualification for either one. but let me speak in your role as president of the senate. it makes you a member of this

body, a body that can be and on some occasions has been the conscience of the nation. you have served longer in this body than any other member here. i look at 9 fact you serve -- at the fact you served here two years longer than i have and so as the other longest serving member, i look at you as my senior senator, and i'm delighted -- i'm delighted to be your junior. i think back to some of the things we did together, mr. president. i remember when i was running for the senate in vermont in 1974 and people told me i was far too young to get elected to the senate at 34 years old. my predecessor was somebody who had been elected here when i was born and served there till i

arrived. you put your arm around me and you said, you know, it would be nice to have an older person that i could look up to. i believe you were 32 and i was 34. but that helped of course but little did i know till i came here how closely we had worked together. we served on the judiciary committee throughout that time. we worked on such duties as the supreme court nominations, civil rights, criminal justice system, and then when you were chairman of the foreign relations committee and bringing to the rest of the world american values which happen to be joe biden values, how much i enjoyed

traveling with you. i think of the time, mr. president, when you and i and our wives jill and marcel traveled together. we'd been good friends throughout all that time. i'll take the liberty of telling one story. when the four of us were in paris, we'd gone out to dinner. it was a cold, winter night. we're coming back. i think marcel mentioned that the eiffel tower lights up on the hour. and you and jill stood on a bench and were hugging each other. the eiffel tower behind you. i snapped a picture. now, we had a close friendship. we never lied to each other, but that was one time i lied to you because you asked me where is the picture. i said, i think i've lost it.

i apologize. we were conspiring to print out that picture, and i know your wonderful wife gave it to you for a wedding anniversary present with words to the effect that you light up her life. well, you lit up many, many lives. i think of our irish bond of friendship, stories i can't tell. some of those closed door sessions with chris dodd and ted kennedy, when we would have some holy water together. somehow it came from ireland. it was usually at least 12 years old. and we would tell irish stories. and after 42 years, i know the rules well enough, i can't repeat any of those stories here. but they were good ones because

it was a friendship and we worked together. we learned we bring in others from both parties. and, mr. president, i remember you and the others showing all of us how you found common ground, and we did things together. and i respect you so much for that. i must admit i learned something else on the judiciary committee. i learned the amtrak schedule because if we had a meeting that was going on a little bit long, we were reminded what time the train was going to delaware. i know you kept in good shape because you could run in three minutes to the station and get on the train where you'd go home to beau and hunter and later jill and ashley. because even though you were a

leader in the united states senate and later as vice president, you were first and foremost father and a husband. you and i and marcel talked about that this summer when you came to vermont for the cancer moonshot. and i told you what an important part of our lives you've been and hope we of yours. you've gone through tragedy and glory, but you've remained yourself throughout all of it. and the memories of those evenings when you let this irish-italian boy come in and