Social Security Fairness Act--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I say to the Senator, I want to add a few words to the tribute to you, Bob, and just to take another angle, if I might.

I have been fortunate enough to join you and campaign in your home State. I remember your first campaign and a trip that I took to try to help. It ended with a party at the end of the day, and if I am not mistaken, it was a bank that had been converted into some meeting hall, maybe, in Scranton.

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Mr. DURBIN. A bar--more appropriate.

I recall standing there with your friends and family, having a drink and a good time, and I am thinking to myself, I could back up a big truck right to the front door here, ask everyone to take their drinks and walk on, take them to the Beverly section of Chicago, open the door, and they could continue the conversation without any interruption. It was an Irish-Catholic, largely Democratic group. They would have been just as comfortable in the environs of Chicago and many other places in this country.

But what I remember is how many members of your family were there. I think you filled the place with family members. It told me an awful lot about the ``Casey'' name in Pennsylvania. It wasn't just a legend. It was more than that. It made a difference in the lives of so many different people and inspired you into public service. I think that was probably the beginning of your commitment to what you have reached in your career--family, faith, and a sense of fairness.

I went back on a bus trip on another one of your campaigns. That is when I met Lieutenant Governor-Candidate John Fetterman and a lot of other of your friends. We went through Bucks County and other places. I have seen you in Chicago. You look just as much at home as you would in the State of Pennsylvania. I think it speaks to what I understand in politics: Family, faith, and fairness can take you a long way. You have made a career out of it. What you have been able to do is to reach out and help people who otherwise wouldn't have had a fighting chance, and that, in my mind and yours too, is why we are here today.

I want to close with this brief remark and just make note of a mutual friend of ours that we talk about all the time. He is a fellow in Philadelphia that I turned to in 1992 to be my political adviser, a fellow named Saul Shorr.

I know that he loves you as a politician and a friend and dedicated so much of his life's work to your success. And I know that your defeat hurt him as much as it does all of us.

But you will be remembered here, and you will inspire others. A new generation will follow, and they will say: We are keeping up the Casey name. We are standing up for what Bob Casey stood for: family, faith, and fairness.

Thanks, Bob, for being a great friend and a great Senator.

(Applause.)

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