Farewell to the Senate
Floor Speech
FAREWELL TO THE SENATE -- (Senate - January 16, 2009)
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Mr. REED. Mr. President, I, too, rise to commend and thank the Senator from Colorado for his extraordinary service to the Senate, to the people of Colorado, and to the United States of America. He is a consummate gentleman. He brought to this Chamber great judgment and great passion to provide opportunity for all our citizens. He also brought the distinctive values of his State of Colorado--a rough sense of individuality, coupled with a commitment to building community; not just an isolated group of people but a community of citizens--and these values have been extraordinarily important to us. His friendship and his leadership have been extraordinarily important to all of us.
I see the Presiding Officer is my colleague and friend from Rhode Island, and as he pointed out a few days ago, they were both attorneys general together: Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island, of course, and Senator Salazar for the State of Colorado. But we were all together in Rhode Island, and I was reflecting, Ken, I don't know what the Department of the Interior has to do with Rhode Island. OK, the Outer Continental Shelf. There is a reason for my tribute.
But we were there together at an event, and Senator Pell, our dear colleague, came. He was frail and ailing, but immediately Senator Salazar rushed over to him to say: Thank you, Senator Pell. Because as he told us, the fact is he and his brother, now in the Congress, and other family members were able to go to college because of the Pell grant. That spirit of opportunity, of giving Americans a chance, and then standing back and letting them do remarkable things, embodied the Pell grant and so many other programs. That is what not only prepared you for the Senate but gave you the vision to do all you have done to help your constituents and the people of this country to see the opportunity which is America.
You and your family have been in Colorado for five generations. I feel like a recent arrival. My folks got here from Ireland in 1850. So from a new American, a new American to an old established family: Thank you for your service; thank you for your friendship. Good luck, Mr. Secretary.
I yield the floor.
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