Remembering Ben Westlund

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, my colleague and friend, Senator Merkley, has spoken very eloquently about Ben Westlund, and I wanted to echo those thoughts and reflect on Ben's special and unique style and warmth.

All of us who have been around government and politics know the challenge of the early-morning meeting. Folks are a little bit sleep-deprived, they are looking for coffee, and maybe they are just trying to keep their eyes open at 7:30 or 8 a.m. Senator Merkley and I want to tell you a little bit about how Ben Westlund handled those meetings. Ben Westlund was able to master, like everything else, the challenge of the early-morning meeting in government. I am sure Senator Merkley remembers that even at that early hour, Ben Westlund would bound to the podium--would not walk, he would bound to the podium--and at the top of his lungs, Ben Westlund would shout: Good morning, Oregon. Good morning, folks. How are you doing? And within a matter of seconds, as Senator Merkley remembers, the entire room would be smiling and everybody would feel like attacking the challenge of the day. That was Ben Westlund.

As Senator Merkley noted, he was always on the offensive against injustice, always speaking out, for example, on health care.

Ben Westlund lived his life in full view. He shared his battle with cancer with his colleagues in the State legislature because he wanted everybody to know what it was like to try to wrestle with an illness.

He always made the point that he had all of these friends. One of our colleagues, Alan Bates, for example, was there for Ben, and Ben would always say: What would it have been like without Alan Bates? I have so many advantages other people did not have. And that was Ben, always sticking up for others.

He and I were trading calls before he passed--I think Senator Merkley will identify with this--because I think Ben was prepared to give me heck, and maybe a little stronger, on a couple of the provisions in the tax legislation that I just introduced with Senator Gregg. Ben was our treasurer. He had mastered the Tax Code in and out. I was trying to reach him because I knew that, invariably, Ben Westlund would be right, he would give us good input, and his thoughts would come directly from the people of Oregon. That was Ben Westlund.

Both of Oregon's U.S. Senators are going to deeply miss this wonderful man, his good counsel, and his companionship. We wanted to take a couple of minutes this morning to note that Oregon has lost a special person, a special person who did so much for our State and did a lot for our country as well.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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