September 4, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S11003 SENATORS WARNER AND Faced with the same situation last record rates since the 2001 and 2003 KENNEDY year, the current assistant majority cuts. We should acknowledge the facts Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, we leader railed against the notion of a and continue this prosperity without did, indeed, with the announcement by continuing resolution, accusing Repub- imposing new pain on taxpayers who Senator WARNER of his retirement at licans, as he put it, ‘‘of failing to do responded to this relief by growing this the end of this term, begin to confront the most fundamental job Congress is economy. The current alternative minimum the reality of the Senate without JOHN expected to do.’’ I think the assistant tax relief is current no more—it ex- WARNER. I will have a good deal more majority leader had that right. He said to say about his career in the coming that calling the 109th Congress a do- pired at the end of last year. In the last months. Of course, we will have ample nothing Congress would be an insult to three Congresses, we extended this re- opportunity to celebrate his remark- the original do-nothing Congress of lief before the Fourth of July recess so able service in the Senate because, for- 1948. And he vowed to finish the unfin- taxpayers knew with certainty the re- tunately, he will be here until January ished business of the last Congress. lief would be there. Yet here we stand, of 2009, continuing to perform his ex- Yet now, as Democrats enter the after the August recess, with no sign of traordinary service on behalf of our ninth month poised to make the very any effort to extend it again—no bill Nation. same mistake we did, we have not reported by committee, not even a He indicated to me Friday when we heard a note of self-criticism from the markup scheduled. were talking that he had added up the other side. This kind of selective criti- Unless this relief is extended, 20 mil- total amount of his time in public serv- cism might work on the campaign lion new taxpayers will face this pun- ice, and it was something like 45 trail. But it’s a clear recipe for frustra- ishing tax when they file their returns years—truly a remarkable patriot. tion and defeat in the Senate. We need next year. They need to know if Demo- Of course, later this afternoon Sen- to get these bills passed and over to the crats are going to make good on their President’s desk for a signature. And promise to let all the provisions of the ator KENNEDY will cast his 15,000th vote—another giant in this body who relentless partisanship is not going to 2001 and 2003 tax bills expire. We are should be recognized for his extraor- do that. willing to work together on this issue, dinary accomplishments. He came to The most heated politics have been but again, cooperation will mean re- the Senate at age 30. He has been here reserved, of course, for the war. So if sisting calls for draconian tax in- quite a while and made an enormous we are going to correct course, we will creases to provide relief from a tax contribution to our country. We con- need to start there. The Congress voted which was never intended to affect so gratulate him on achieving this mile- in May to have General Petraeus re- many families. The Senate will soon be asked to con- stone. port back this month on progress in Iraq, and the Congress should listen to firm a new Attorney General. Some f what he says, without prejudice, when Members of this body will be tempted RETURN FROM THE AUGUST he gets here. to turn the confirmation process into RECESS This is not a baseless hope. We have another occasion for seeking political seen some of the sharpest early critics advantage. Democrats have rightly Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, as of the general’s new military strategy noted that the Justice Department’s we resume our business here in the defending it in recent weeks after see- work is too important to languish Senate, we do so in the hope that we ing for themselves the impact it has without leadership at the top. have learned some lessons over the last had in former al-Qaida strongholds like And they have promised that if the 8 months. The chief lesson we should Anbar Province. President’s nominee puts the rule of have learned, in my view, is that the Republicans welcome this kind of law first, they will avoid confronta- culture of the endless campaign may honest reassessment. As more Demo- tion. They will prove they mean it by win headlines, but it doesn’t win much crats have the courage to acknowledge not looking to secure commitments beyond that. the good news as well as the bad news from the nominee as a condition of his None of us is so naive as to think in Iraq, we all have reason to hope for or her confirmation, other than that he that the life of an elected politician the kind of cooperative legislative or she will faithfully enforce the law. doesn’t involve politics—obviously it strategy that has been lacking until Attempts to exact political promises does. But we also know that making now. and precommitments would be incon- laws often demands leaving the politics The political path the majority has sistent with the goal of restoring the aside. The bitter debates over the war often chosen over the last 8 months has Justice Department to full strength as in Iraq and a thin list of significant reduced us at times to theatrics on the quickly as possible. legislative achievements so far in the war. It has left us scrambling on appro- Nor should the confirmation of a new 110th Congress are all the proof of that priations. And it threatens to prevent Attorney General be used as an excuse we need. us from addressing a number of other to slow down circuit court nomina- That’s the lesson of the last 8 vital issues that the American people tions, starting with Judge Leslie months—that if we expect to accom- don’t want us to put off. We need to Southwick. plish anything here we need to lower act, cooperatively, before it is too late The average number of circuit court the political temperature. And it is ur- to address these issues within the lim- confirmations during the final 2 years gent as we return here today that we ited time we have. of similarly situated presidencies is 17. do just that. Time is short, and the list is long. We We have fallen off pace to approximate Cooperation is as important on rou- need to act on a farm bill by the end of that standard. tine business as it is on contentious the month. We need to act on vital free At this point, the Senate has only things. We are now just 4 weeks away trade agreements and on the debt limit confirmed three circuit court nomi- from the beginning of the new fiscal ceiling, which we will reach sometime nees—three. The Senate can begin to year, and we have not sent a single one in early October. We need to extend the make much needed progress in this of the twelve annual appropriations FISA legislation. area by confirming Judge Southwick. bills to the President’s desk. This al- More than 40 tax provisions expire at The Judiciary Committee voted to send most certainly means we will soon be the end of this year. We need to extend his nomination to the Senate before we looking at an appropriations train them before it is too late, and we can broke for recess and he deserves a vote wreck here in the next few weeks, fol- only do it if we resist calls to pay for and he deserves it soon. lowed by a continuing resolution to them with equally unpopular offsets. In my view, the Democratic majority keep the Government running. The other side tends to look at the has wasted too much time in the first This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. budget in terms of Newtonian physics: months of this session playing politics Indeed, it was not all that long ago They think every cut calls for an equal instead of legislating. The working that Democrats themselves were de- and opposite hike. Yet we have seen days we have left in this session are nouncing Republicans for doing this that this is not the case, with money too few to be squandered. We need to very thing. now flooding into the Treasury at put aside the political path and come

VerDate Mar 15 2010 21:17 Mar 13, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2007SENATE\S04SE7.REC S04SE7 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY S11004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 4, 2007 together to get some work done. The left in the Senate. He shares that dis- It was a wonderful opportunity work- clock is ticking. It is getting late. But tinction with DANNY AKAKA, DANNY ing in that office, working together. it is not too late. There is no better INOUYE, FRANK LAUTENBERG, and TED There were countless long days, many time to shift course than now. STEVENS. very long nights. You learn a lot about The political path has been perhaps went to college on the a person when things get tough, when most in evidence on many of the Iraq GI bill. Then he entered the University the rubber meets the road. But I have votes we have had. More of the same of law school. But when the to tell you, in our case, when anything will only delay the cooperative work broke out, JOHN WARNER, was a little bit difficult, we did not we need to create a policy aimed at with his intense sense of patriotism, ever get personal, did not get upset, did protecting America’s vital long- and interrupted law school to fight for his not ever attribute ulterior motives to short-term security interests in the country again. This time he served as anybody; we decided we were going to Persian Gulf and Iraq. an officer in the Marine Corps. figure out how to get it done. A good first step away from the polit- After returning from , JOHN As I said earlier, there was a certain ical path would be to get the Defense WARNER finished law school, clerked on chemistry that came together with all appropriations bill to the floor of the the court of appeals, worked as an as- six of us working together, my staff, Senate in the next week or two and get sistant U.S. attorney and worked as a his staff, their staffs, and the six of us funding to our forces in the field. Ap- lawyer in private practice. He returned all together. It was wonderful. propriations should be an urgent pri- to public service in 1969 as Under Sec- I think I learned a lot from watching ority for us, as Democrats insisted retary of the Navy. Then, in 1972, he JOHN WARNER and , too, for when they were in the minority. Re- succeeded our former colleague, John that matter. They were two of the publicans are ready to start fresh, to Chafee, as Secretary of the Navy. He same. They both served as marines, begin again, in order to get many im- represented the Defense Department at and they both were Secretaries of the portant and necessary things accom- the Law of the Sea talks in Geneva. Navy. But JOHN WARNER was a person plished in the coming days and weeks. In the Senate, JOHN WARNER has who listens. He sat there and listened; We will call on our friends on the other served as chairman of the Rules Com- I had a point; John Chafee had a point. side to do the same. mittee. He has served as chairman and In other negotiations I have been in The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- ranking member of the Armed Services where JOHN WARNER has been there, pore. The senior Senator from Mon- Committee. He has come to be known JOHN WARNER is going to listen. JOHN tana. as one of the Congress’s most influen- WARNER will listen and say: ‘‘Okay, that is interesting. Let’s see how we f tial voices on matters of national de- fense. can make that work.’’ I might say also TRIBUTE TO SENATOR WARNER But I have come to know JOHN WAR- he is a very skilled statesman in that Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, last Fri- NER on the Environment and Public he cut to the core of matters pretty day the senior Senator from Virginia Works Committee. JOHN WARNER and I quickly. announced that he would not seek re- have worked together on that com- Not a lot of fuss or muss, never got election to the Senate. I speak today, mittee for more than 20 years. I joined wrapped around the axle in details, when things kind of got off tangent in therefore, in tribute to Senator JOHN the committee in 1981 and JOHN joined the wrong direction, but got to the WARNER. in 1987. There, for most of that time, core of the matter. He came to the core I have known JOHN WARNER for near- both of us have worked together as ly 30 years. In 1978, the people of Mon- chairman and ranking minority mem- of the matter. He would sum it all up in a very wonderful, sort of statesman- tana and Virginia sent us both to the ber of one subcommittee or another. Senate for the first time. I thank the We worked together on transpor- like, solid way, as only JOHN can. We people of Montana and Virginia for giv- tation bills. Those are the bills with all sat there saying, ‘‘Yes, that is about ing me the opportunity to serve with such colorful names as ISTEA, TEA–21, it. That is right.’’ That is kind of what JOHN said. ‘‘That is probably right. We JOHN WARNER. The election of 1978 SAFET–LU. For a while, we were will go on from there.’’ I learned a lot brought 20 new Senators to the Senate. chairman and ranking minority mem- from JOHN WARNER. I hope I can use From that class, many Senators moved ber of the Transportation and Infra- that in later years. on to other pursuits: Bill Armstrong, structure Subcommittee. We worked Both leaders spoke about how JOHN David Boren, Rudy Boschwitz, Bill on at least four renewals of the Water WARNER is not partisan, and it is true. Bradley, Bill Cohen, David Duren- Resources Development Act. I hope, frankly, that as we finish this I remember fondly working closely berger, Gordon Humphrey, Roger Jep- year and next year, a lot of us remem- with JOHN on the transportation legis- sen, Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Larry ber the tone and the style with which Pressler, David Pryor, Alan Simpson, lation in 1997 and 1998, TEA–21. We JOHN WARNER conducts himself. Donald Stewart. worked with our late colleague, John It is also very important to mention From that class, three have gone to Chafee. The three of us were a wonder- JOHN WARNER spoke up courageously in their final rest. We all recall the mem- ful team. You will not believe the the State of Virginia; he did not sup- ory of colleagues now departed: Jim chemistry with which the three of us port his party’s nominee for the Sen- Exon, Howell Heflin, Paul Tsongas. worked together. We decided early on ate. That was a gutsy thing to do, but May their memories serve as a bless- we would stick together as a team: he did it in a very civil way, not in a ing. JOHN WARNER, basically the Southern negative way, not in a partisan way. He From that class, four remain in the donor States; John Chafee, basically spoke his mind about what was right. Senate: , , the New England States; and I, rep- It was very courageous and also the this Senator, and JOHN WARNER. resenting in some sense the Western tone made his message and his belief As a young man, JOHN WARNER donee States. We represented the three that much more important because fought forest fires in Montana. Very major components who put together people saw he was not personal, people often when I am talking to JOHN, he re- the Transportation bill. saw he meant it, people saw he was calls those times in Montana. His eyes We stuck together. We worked to- courageous and he was doing what he brighten up. He very much reminisces gether. I mean we worked together. thought was the right thing to do. about how much he enjoyed spending There is a lot of talk about we needing The same is true with respect to Sen- time in the State. Whether it was less partisanship around here. I have to ator WARNER’s decision about the war fighting fires or whether it was around tell you, JOHN WARNER, John Chafee in Iraq. It is not the party line, JOHN’s Bozeman, MT, it comes to him very and I, we sat down and worked things statements. He is saying what he clearly when he talks about Montana out. We had a terrific staff working for thinks is right. He is saying what he in his early years. us, JOHN, myself, and John Chafee. We thinks is the right thing to do. It is not At the age of 17, JOHN WARNER joined were all together in John Chafee’s of- partisan. It is courageous and said in a the Navy to fight in World War II, part fice, sometimes in JOHN WARNER’s of- very civil tone. of the ‘‘greatest generation.’’ JOHN fice, deciding what was best on how to That is why people have called him a WARNER is one of five World War II vets get a highway bill together. consensus builder. It is why people

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