Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last month, we lost Kay Hagan after a long illness.

Kay was always a fighter, starting with her days in the North Carolina State Legislature and continuing to when she answered the call of serving the Senate during the perilous days of the great recession. Kay was the right person to fight for North Carolina when she was needed the most.

She came from a family who knows service and sacrifice. Her uncle was Lawton Chiles, a Korean war veteran and former Representative, Senator, and Governor of Florida. Her father and brother served in the Navy. Her father-in-law was a major general in the Marine Corps. Her husband is a Vietnam veteran who used his GI bill to pay for law school. When Kay talked about veterans' issues, she spoke from the heart.

Kay was born into politics. As a young girl, she was putting bumper stickers on cars for her uncle. Her father won an election to become mayor of Lakeland, FL. While interning for her uncle, Kay learned about the ups and downs of Congress, literally. She operated the Senators- only elevator in this building.

North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt first encouraged Kay to run for office when she served as his Guilford County campaign chairman. In 1998, she unseated a Republican incumbent and won a seat in the North Carolina State Senate. For 10 years, Kay Hagan earned a reputation as a commonsense hard worker, interested in results, not partisan fighting. As cochair of the State budget committee, she increased the State's rainy day fund and balanced five straight budgets. She helped make record investments in education, raised the pay for teachers, and increased the minimum wage.

She was one of the most versatile women in her State. She juggled Girl Scout events, winning reelection four times, raising her growing family, and serving as a Sunday school teacher and a Presbyterian Church elder.

In 2008, Kay ran for and won a U.S. Senate seat, becoming the Senate's first female Democratic Senator. With her family's military background, it surprised no one that Kay fought hard in the Senate for military families and veterans. When she heard about 9-year-old Janey Ensminger--daughter of a retired marine--passing away from leukemia because of contaminated water on the base of Camp Lejeune, she worked to pass the Janey Ensminger Act to help those affected receive healthcare.

Kay also introduced a bill that was close to my heart. It would ban for-profit colleges from using the phrase ``GI bill'' in their aggressive marketing efforts aimed at separating veterans and servicemembers from their hard-earned education benefits.

Kay was fearless with her voting. She made the toughest votes count, knowing the consequences to her own career. As long as it helped people of North Carolina and the United States, she was always a crucial partner. The Affordable Care Act and the 2009 economic stimulus package were politically difficult for many, but Kay stepped up and supported them. She was brave to the highest degree. Historians will remember that bravery. She stepped up when America needed her. Today, because of it, America is stronger and better.

We will all remember Kay Hagan for her friendship and that we had the privilege to call her a friend and colleague.

She is survived by her husband Chip, her three children--Jeanette Hagan, Tilden Hagan, Carrie Hagan Stewart--her father Joe P. Ruthven, two brothers, and five grandchildren.

It was my honor to serve with Kay Hagan and to memorialize her service to North Carolina and the United States in this statement today.

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