it was senator paul sarbanes' congressional district in theous, and we welcome you today. it was my seat when i was in the house of representatives. ben carden, who was a third congressional here, and now john sarbanes. so if you're a member of the 3rd congressional district, this is your congressional district. we pass the baton and we pass the fort. the story of fort mchenry in the battle of 1812 and the battles of '13, '14 and '15 that have been fought in our country are well-known and told. you've heard them all weekend, and you will continue to hear them. because of the great historic significance of what happened here, it was the job of the maryland congressional delegation working with our fantastic park service to continue to tell the story. that's why we worked so hard and fought so hard both in the federal law books and the federal checkbook to have a brand-new visitors center and to be able to have the historic path to tell the sfoer and to be able to have commemorative coins to pay for it. i want to salute specifically senator paul sarbanes who initiated this i

senator paul sarbanes, also mark feting with legg mason and also of those are friends from underarmourand so many other people including our sponsors who made this weekend an outstanding kickoff. on behalf of the people of baltimore and maryland, we are honored as a city and state to usher in this international by centennial commemoration of the war of 1812. very shortly we will sign a declaration appropriately -- a declaration of peaces, of our people's coming together as we have for the better part of our -- of more than 200-year history together with our neighbors in canada and great britain, and i especially want to thank the commanders of nine other nations whose people sent their beautiful, tal ships and crews to be a part of this commemoration, and i would like to thank each of you. we are kicking off what will be a two-year celebration, and i want to especially thank the united states navy, secretary ray mabis. we could not be more proud of our men and women of the united states navy and marine corps, and the demonstration that you have made here with your personal involvement

there's been far more common in recent decades refreshment our good friends paul sarbanes and chris doddach gained a seat on the committee as newly elected senators and held it throughout their 30-year senate careers. senator clay bjorn pell served 32 years on the committee. having gained a seat in his fourth year as a senator. at the end of this year, i will have served 34 years on the committee, joining vice president biden who reached that tenure before he was elected to his current position. both of us gained a seat on the committee after two years in the senate. vice president biden also holds the distinction of being the third foreign relations committee chairman to become vice president of the united states. it is an understatement to say that he is having much more success in his role than his two predecessors. the first chairman to become vice president, william r. king had tuberculosis when he was elected and died only 25 days into his vice presidential tenure. he holds the record for the fewest days served in an elected u.s. executive office. even president william henry harri