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TRIBUTES TO HON. WILLIAM H. FRIST 

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William H. Frist 

U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE 

TRIBUTES 

IN THE CONGRESS OF 

THE UNITED STATES 

UNUM

E PLURIBUS


congress.#15
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William H. Frist 


33206.001
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 2007

S. DOC. 109–31 

Tributes 

Delivered in Congress 

William H. Frist 

United States Senator 

1995–2007 

÷ 

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Compiled under the direction 

of the 

Joint Committee on Printing 

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CONTENTS 

Page 

Biography .................................................................................................. v 

Farewell to the Senate ............................................................................. xi 

Proceedings in the Senate: 

Tributes by Senators: 

Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee ............................................... 7, 18 

Allen, George, of Virginia .......................................................... 9 

Bunning, Jim, of Kentucky ....................................................... 30 

Clinton, Hillary Rodham, of New York .................................... 25 

Collins, Susan M., of Maine ...................................................... 33 

DeWine, Mike, of Ohio ............................................................... 27 

Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut ....................................... 27 

Dole, Elizabeth, of North Carolina ........................................... 35 

Domenici, Pete V., of New Mexico ............................................ 19 

Durbin, Richard, of Illinois ........................................................ 10, 17 

Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming ................................................... 3 

Feingold, Russell D., of Wisconsin ............................................ 11 

Frist, William H., of Tennessee ................................................ 32 

Hagel, Chuck, of Nebraska ........................................................ 6 

Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah ........................................................... 23 

Hutchison, Kay Bailey, of Texas ............................................... 31 

Kennedy, Edward M., of Massachusetts .................................. 18 

Kyl, Jon, of Arizona ................................................................... 26 

Landrieu, Mary L., of Louisiana ............................................... 25 

Martinez, Mel, of Florida ........................................................... 28 

McConnell, Mitch, of Kentucky ................................................. 15 

Nelson, Bill, of Florida ............................................................... 9 

Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island ...................................................... 7 

Reid, Harry, of Nevada .............................................................. 13, 28 

Salazar, Ken, of Colorado .......................................................... 11 

Santorum, Rick, of Pennsylvania .............................................. 22 

Snowe, Olympia J., of Maine .................................................... 29 

Specter, Arlen, of Pennsylvania ................................................ 22 

Stevens, Ted, of Alaska ............................................................. 32 

Warner, John, of Virginia .......................................................... 12 

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Biography 

Born February 22, 1952, in Nashville, TN, BILL FRIST was 

raised with a passion to serve others. His earliest memories 

are of his physician father leaving the family dinner table 

with his black doctor’s bag in hand to make nightly rounds 

at the hospital. This sense of service to community has been 

the consistent driving force throughout BILL FRIST’s life. 

True to the family profession of healing, BILL FRIST enrolled in Princeton University knowing he would devote his 

life to serving through medicine. While at Princeton, he 

began to cultivate an interest in medicine that extended beyond one-on-one health delivery. He spent his junior and 

senior years specializing in health care policy and international relations at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public 

and International Affairs. 

His Wilson School experience led him to a summer internship with veteran Tennessee Congressman Joe Evins (D) in 

Washington, DC. The dean of Tennessee’s congressional delegation counseled the young intern that should he ever want 

to serve in Congress, he should first excel in a profession 

other than politics. The seed to be a ‘‘citizen legislator’’ was 

planted. 

BILL FRIST noted the advice and, after graduating from 

Princeton in 1974, earned his medical degree at Harvard 

Medical School. He graduated with honors in 1978 and spent 

the next 6 years in heart surgery training at Massachusetts 

General Hospital (MGH) in Boston and Southampton General Hospital in England. His training culminated with his 

selection as chief resident in heart and lung surgery at 

MGH. 

At each stage of his life, BILL FRIST acts to find new solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems. When Boston 

decided not to undertake the brand new, risky field of heart 

and lung transplantation, BILL FRIST left Massachusetts for 

California to pursue his dream of helping pioneer the emerging dramatic therapies for what were then considered ‘‘untreatable and uniformly fatal diseases.’’ In 1985 he joined the 

team of innovative heart transplant surgeon Dr. Norman 

Shumway. An outside-the-box, visionary thinker, Shumway’s 

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philosophy of ‘‘Conceive it. Believe it. Do it.’’ became BILL

FRIST’s mantra for life. 

After completing his fellowship at Stanford and equipped 

with a strong foundation of transplant expertise, BILL FRIST

returned to his hometown of Nashville with a goal to create 

the region’s first multi-organ, multidisciplinary transplant 

center. In 1986 he became director of Vanderbilt University 

Medical Center’s heart and lung transplantation program. 

He also taught and operated at the Nashville Veterans Administration Hospital. 

BILL FRIST immediately began building on his vision for a 

first-of-its-kind, innovative transplant facility that would 

gather into a single center transplant specialists, scientists 

and ethicists from a broad range of disciplines who would 

not otherwise have worked together. In 1989 he founded the 

multi-organ Vanderbilt Transplant Center. Under his leadership, the center became recognized as one of the premier, full 

service transplant facilities in the United States. 

During his 20 years in medicine, Dr. FRIST performed over 

150 heart and lung transplant procedures—including the 

first lung transplant and the first pediatric heart transplant 

(his youngest patient was a 6-day-old neonate) in Tennessee 

and the first successful combined heart-lung transplant in 

the Southeast. With a focus on developing innovative, meaningful solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems and 

then applying them clinically, he was equally comfortable in 

the basic science laboratory as he was in the operating room. 

He authored over 100 articles, chapters and abstracts on 

medical research and was coauthor of his first book, ‘‘Grand 

Rounds in Transplantation.’’ He was board certified in both 

general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery. 

Dr. FRIST had risen to the top of the medical profession at 

a remarkably young age. And he was devoting his life to 

what he loved the most—healing and giving hope to people 

by curing their fatal diseases with new therapies he had 

helped develop. 

But BILL FRIST believed he could do even more for medicine, for patients, and for the people of Tennessee and the 

United States of America. To address the critical shortage of 

organ donors for those thousands of potential recipients who 

were dying as they waited, BILL FRIST reached beyond the 

operating room to educate the American people about the 

need. In 1989 he wrote and published his second book, 

‘‘Transplant: A Heart Surgeon’s Account of the Life-andDeath Dramas of the New Medicine.’’ He sought to examine 

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the social and ethical issues of transplantation, dispel the 

myths about transplantation and encourage people to become 

organ donors. He lectured nationally on the subject and led 

a successful campaign to return the organ donor card to the 

back of the Tennessee driver’s license. He witnessed how 

public education and public policy could exponentially save 

people’s lives. He saw that public policy matters. 

So it was only natural that BILL FRIST then began exploring the idea of seeking public office. Healing one on one as 

a physician could be expanded to healing a community, he 

reasoned. In 1990 he met with fellow Tennessean Howard 

Baker and talked with the former U.S. Senate majority leader and White House Chief of Staff about the benefits and 

burdens of public service. Baker counseled BILL FRIST that 

the U.S. Senate would provide the most appropriate forum 

for his talents and expertise, even though FRIST had never 

served or run for any public office. Go straight where you 

can make the most difference, Baker told FRIST. 

BILL FRIST, remaining active in the research laboratory 

and in the operating room, kept up his public involvement as 

well. He wrote newspaper columns about health care policy 

and chaired a statewide task force on Medicaid reform. After 

another meeting with Baker in 1992, BILL FRIST began traveling across Tennessee and listening to people’s ideas and 

hopes, considering a possible run for the Senate. BILL FRIST

officially launched his campaign in 1994, a political novice 

who had a dream to serve. 

After defeating five opponents in a hard-fought primary, 

BILL FRIST faced a popular three-term incumbent Senator 

who had been slated to be the next leader in the Senate. The 

campaign unfolded as a battle between a career politician 

and a populist outsider whose life was dedicated to healing. 

FRIST won by a resounding 13 percentage points, the only 

challenger to beat a full-term incumbent Senator that cycle. 

He became the first practicing physician elected to the Senate since 1928. 

Six years later Senator FRIST won reelection with 66 percent of the vote and received more votes for statewide office 

than any political figure in Tennessee history, a record that 

stands today. During that time, he wrote a third book—‘‘Tennessee Senators 1911–2001: Portraits of Leadership in a 

Century of Change.’’

As a Senator, BILL FRIST emerged as one of the leading 

voices on health care issues in America, serving for a period 

as chairman of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Health. He 

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fought hard to strengthen Medicare, provide seniors with affordable access to prescription drugs, expand children’s 

health, eliminate health care disparities, bolster public 

health and make health care more affordable and available 

to every American. 

Senator FRIST is consistently recognized among the most 

influential people in health care in America. He is 1 of only 

2 individuals who have ranked in the top 10 of each of the 

last 5 well-recognized Modern Healthcare magazine annual 

surveys of the most influential people in health care in the 

United States, ranking 3d in 2006. 

BILL FRIST’s professional expertise in infectious diseases 

enabled him to lead the fight against one of the new, most 

existential threats to the health and security of our Nation—

bioterrorism. Following the October 2001 anthrax attacks 

along the East Coast, FRIST was a calming voice during a 

frightening time. He quickly led passage of landmark legislation to bolster America’s defenses against bioterrorism. He 

then wrote his fourth book, ‘‘When Every Moment Counts: 

What You Need to Know about Bioterrorism from the Senate’s Only Doctor,’’ to educate families as to what they could 

do to prepare for and respond to potential future attacks 

with biological agents. All profits were donated to charities 

in Tennessee to assist with local preparedness plans. 

As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, BILL

FRIST served as one of only two congressional representatives 

to the U.N. General Assembly in the 107th Congress. Having 

personally treated patients with HIV, BILL FRIST also served 

as a strong advocate for increasing funding and expediting 

new therapies for global HIV/AIDS. He led the fight in the 

Senate for the unprecedented $15 billion commitment to 

fight AIDS throughout the world, the largest commitment a 

nation has made against a single disease. BILL FRIST has 

called HIV the single greatest moral, humanitarian and public health challenge of our times. 

And as he did with bioterrorism, BILL FRIST has taken the 

fight against global HIV/AIDS beyond the Senate Chamber. 

At least once a year, he travels as a doctor to Sub-Saharan 

Africa as part of World Medical Mission to do surgery and 

care for those stricken with disease. He has been a tireless 

advocate for clean water around the world, and he introduced ‘‘using medicine as a currency for peace’’ into our national public diplomacy. 

America’s children have been another top priority for Senator FRIST. The author of the original Ed-Flex legislation 

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that gave local schools greater flexibility in exchange for 

more accountability, he strongly supported President Bush’s 

No Child Left Behind Act, which provides regular testing, 

local control, more Federal funding and greater accountability and flexibility to our public education system. Reducing childhood obesity, halting childhood vaccine shortages 

and fighting methamphetamine drug abuse have served as 

focal points of Senator FRIST’s efforts to improve the health 

of our children. 

Many people rise to the top of one demanding profession 

in their lifetime. Senator FRIST has risen to the top of two. 

The Senator’s colleagues chose him to serve in leadership 

positions throughout his service in the Senate. In 1999 he 

served as a deputy whip. One year later his colleagues elected him chairman of the National Republican Senatorial 

Committee. There BILL FRIST accomplished another first. 

Under his leadership, the party of the President took back 

majority control of the Senate in a first mid-term election for 

the first time in history. 

BILL FRIST was chosen unanimously to serve as the 16th 

majority leader of the U.S. Senate on December 23, 2002. 

Two years later he was reelected unanimously. When first 

elected leader, he had served less total time in Congress 

than any Senator in history to hold that position. 

During his service as majority leader, BILL FRIST recorded 

a number of legislative accomplishments: the most comprehensive national security reforms since the creation of the 

CIA in 1947, the third largest tax cut in American history, 

the Nation’s first comprehensive national energy policy, enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act, establishment of 

SMART education grants to increase the country’s economic 

competitiveness in the 21st century’s global economy, extensive reforms to reduce lawsuit abuse throughout the judicial 

system, authoring the Medicare Modernization Act that provided access to affordable prescription drugs for 43 million 

seniors in its first year of implementation, a ban on partialbirth abortion, landmark bioterrorism preparedness legislation, championing American leadership in the global fight 

against HIV/AIDS and ensuring access to clean water served 

as a cornerstone of foreign assistance. BILL FRIST also shepherded the confirmations of Supreme Court Chief Justice 

John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito through 

the Senate. 

Senator FRIST served his country as a true ‘‘citizen legislator,’’ just as Congressman Evins had suggested to him as 

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a young man. In 1994 he pledged to the people of Tennessee 

that he would go to Washington to serve two terms and 

would then return home. He did just that, voluntarily stepping down as majority leader of the Senate to return to 

Nashville with his wife Karyn and live in the same house—

and with the same values—in which he was raised. 

Anyone who knows FRIST knows his family is his number 

one priority. He refers to Karyn and their three sons—Harrison, Jonathan and Bryan—as his ‘‘foundation and inspiration in life.’’

Doctor-Senator FRIST spends his spare time running (7 

marathons in the last 10 years), flying (commercial and instrument ratings), writing (6 books), and completing annual 

medical mission trips. His passion is simply to serve. 

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Farewell to the Senate 

Thursday, December 7, 2006 

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, about 2 months ago, late Sunday afternoon, when no one was around, I came into this 

Chamber to carry out a time-honored tradition, nearly as old 

as the institution itself. I came over to this desk and I 

opened the drawer and the tradition of carving your initials 

or your name into the bottom of that drawer was carried out. 

As you open these drawers, as many of us do when we are 

sitting here listening and debating, you tend to look at the 

names that are there. I see Robert Taft at the bottom of this 

drawer, Hugh Scott, Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, Bob 

Dole, Trent Lott, and the list goes on. And with the quiet 

here, you begin to reflect a little bit. But then all of a sudden 

you start thinking, as you are carving your name into that 

drawer, that there aren’t very many things that you leave 

that are permanent around here, but that is one. 

It confronted me, as it hits me with such force today, that 

our time here, indeed, is temporary, and that we are here to 

occupy these seats at these desks just for a period of time. 

We can never forget that we don’t own these seats. We don’t 

own our presence in this U.S. Senate. It is with that recognition that I address my colleagues today. 

I have reflected a lot over the last several weeks, and I 

think back to that nonpolitician who came to this city, this 

body, 12 years ago with a whole lot of hope for the people 

of Tennessee and a whole lot of hope for this country. I think 

back to the people who put their trust in that man’s hands. 

Indeed, it was 12 years ago that Karyn and I came to 

Washington. I came as a citizen legislator with absolutely no 

political experience. I was a doctor. I spent 20 years in the 

profession of healing. In my acceptance speech back 12 years 

ago, I pledged at that time to my fellow Tennesseans that 

Karyn and I would go to Washington, that we would serve 

for 12 years, for a limited amount of time, and that we would 

go back to Tennessee and live under the laws that we helped 

enact. And that is exactly what we will do. We are going to 

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go back to Tennessee in a few weeks, and I am going to live 

in the very same house that I was born in 54 years ago. 

I still remember coming to the Hill early on, and I know 

a number of new colleagues are coming to the Hill. I think 

back, and my former chief of staff, who was very green at the 

time—I just told you how green I was at the time—I remember standing right in front of the Capitol, and we had to stop 

somebody and ask: Where is this building called the Russell 

Building? And they told us. Luckily, I don’t think they knew 

who I was at the time. 

But I did come believing deeply in the promise that I had 

made. I believed in my heart that with determination—and 

I had seen it in surgery and in the operating room—one can 

make a difference in this world. Today, I look back and I see 

that I was only half right. One person can make a difference, 

and each of us do in our own ways. But to make a difference, 

we can’t do it alone. 

I certainly couldn’t have done it without people who stood 

both behind me and with me over the last 12 years. I agree 

with all of my colleagues. I know they know Karyn. And, indeed, she has honored me by her unwavering love each step 

along the way. Her grace in carrying out her official responsibilities, her commitment to the development of character in 

our three boys, her moral support, her spiritual support for 

me and our family, she has been that guiding river that has 

kept us on course as we traveled two very different professions/occupations: that of being a heart surgeon and that of 

serving as a U.S. Senator. 

Our three boys most of you know as well. You have 

watched them grow up over the last 12 years: Bryan, Jonathan, and Harrison. Obviously, we are so proud of each of 

them. I will speak directly to them because they, as with 

anybody growing up, faced the huge challenges of growing up 

in public life, taking in stride the various swipes that the 

media takes from time to time, but doing so with real dignity 

and strength. The boys know that Tennessee is home. They 

have been able to take in the rich texture that is afforded 

all of us as we raise children here in this town. And they 

have grown from three young boys when we came here to 

three young men. 

I want to thank staff members, and we never do that 

enough, those staff members who have been with me from 

the very beginning: Emily Reynolds, Ramona Lessen, Bart 

VerHulst, Cornell Wedge, Mark Winslow, and Carol Burroughs. I thank my series of chiefs of staff: Mark Tipps, Lee 

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Rawls, Howard Liebengood, Eric Ueland, Andrea Becker, 

Bart, and Emily, and all those who have come in and out of 

these doors since that very first day 12 years ago when, yes, 

I, like somebody every cycle, was 100th in seniority. It is the 

staff that puts the needs of this country before their own 

needs. And with a lot of hard work and a lot of passion and 

a lot of hope, they have accomplished so much. 

A few moments always stand out in my mind, and I will 

not recite all of them, but a few do stand out in my mind, 

victories like the $15 billion in funding for global HIV/AIDS. 

I have seen firsthand the power in the hundreds of thousands and, indeed, I would say millions of lives that have 

been saved by American leadership there; the prescription 

drugs for seniors; confirming John Roberts and Sam Alito. 

And through all of this time, we have borne witness to 

days that have literally changed the face of this Nation and 

the face of this Capitol, things like the Capitol shootings, 

September 11, anthrax and ricin, and Katrina. But through 

all of that, we kept it the best way we could, with hard work 

and a lot of hope. 

I thank my colleagues who placed their faith in me to 

serve as their leader. As I said four Decembers ago, when 

you elected me, it was and has been ever since, every day, 

a very humbling experience. On that day 4 years ago I 

quoted Proverbs: In his heart a man plans his course, but 

the Lord determines his steps. 

And what fulfilling steps have been afforded me as leader. 

I cannot let today pass without expressing gratitude for the 

close friendships of people who are here and some people 

who have passed through this Chamber: Howard Baker, the 

great Republican leader from Tennessee whose shoes as majority leader I have done my best to fill. He has counseled 

me over the years both as a Senator and as leader. His sage 

advice I have relied upon many times in those capacities. 

You have to be very careful going around a room, but behind me, people like Pete Domenici, who became a mentor 

to me on that very first day in 1995; and people like John 

Warner, whom we saw in action just a few minutes ago on 

the floor and, yes, on the Gates nomination; and former Senators, people like Don Nickles who so wisely set the stage for 

the Republican tax cuts of the last several years; my colleague and confidant, Mitch McConnell, whose wisdom and 

service has been indispensable to leading the Republican majority, who ascends in party leadership, who will be sitting 

at this desk in a few weeks, a temperament and skill with 

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which no one is better prepared; my Tennessee colleagues, 

Fred Thompson and now Lamar Alexander, two great statesmen with whom I have had the honor to work side by side 

as we have addressed the needs of our constituents. 

I thank the two Democratic leaders, Tom Daschle and now 

Harry Reid. As Harry and I have said publicly many times, 

everybody sees the public contrast between one leader and 

the other, between Harry and me. But what people don’t see 

are the daily conversations, the private conversations off the 

floor where views are mutually respected, where burdens are 

shared, and where family is discussed. Karyn and I leave 

this body with tremendous respect for Harry and for Landra, 

for their contributions to this country. 

To all my colleagues who have reached across the aisle and 

across differences when you could, thank you. 

Twelve years ago, it was people in Tennessee who took a 

big chance, who took a great chance. They took a chance on 

a doctor who was little known, who had never served in public office, obviously had never run for public office. They 

began by opening their minds and then opening their homes 

and then opening their lives and then opening their hearts. 

And I am eternally grateful to them for giving me that trust 

and taking that chance. 

On this floor many times I have mentioned my parents 

and I mentioned my dad. Dad used to say: ‘‘It is a powerful 

thing to know where you are going in life, but it is equally 

powerful to know where you have come from.’’

To the good people of Tennessee, I thank you for never letting me forget where I have come from. You never let me forget those promises made on the trail over a decade ago, the 

promises that have been the heart of everything that we 

have done. Yours are the voices that have called out to me 

from Mountain City in East Tennessee to Memphis in the 

west, the people out there who are working hard every day 

to raise a family, to grow a business, to run a farm, to get 

ahead. As long as I live, I will never forget those voices. 

Those voices are clear, those voices of common sense that 

called out and counseled me time and time again. 

Two people who won’t hear me thank them today are two 

who were at my swearing in but who have since passed on: 

my parents Dorothy and Tommy Frist. They have left a fascinating legacy that the five children—I am the last of those 

five—have been the beneficiaries of, a legacy of honesty, of 

civility, of fairness, of hard work, and of service. And we 

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all—at least I try to—struggle to capture what they did in 

passing that legacy on to our children. 

My own brothers and sisters, Mary, Bobby, Dottie, and 

Tommy, all in their own way, with their children and grandchildren, have been successful in living lives of service to 

others. Many friends are here today, including Jean Ann and 

Barry Banker and Denise and Steve Smith. It is that friendship, that team, that gives people, I believe, the strength and 

foundation to carry out that mission of serving this great 

country. 

In the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time reflecting 

about the future of this institution. As I prepared to leave 

here and return to my home, many people have asked, don’t 

you ever regret the promise that you made to serve just for 

12 years, two terms? Did you regret it when you became 

chair of the RNC or majority leader? If you knew then what 

you know today, would you have made that promise 12 years 

ago? My answer is yes, because I believe today, as I believed 

then, in the ideal. It is, I guess, that ideal of a citizen legislator. It might seem bittersweet today, but it is right. 

I hope that in some way, as I leave here, that my service—

people may say it was effective or ineffective, and that is all 

very important—is an example of someone who had never, 

ever run for public office, never served before, and who had 

spent his lifetime—in fact, twice as much time as I spent in 

the Senate—pursuing another profession, coming here like so 

many people today and starting at 100th in seniority over in 

the basement of the Dirksen and rising to majority leader 

over that 12-year period; an example of a committed doctor 

who is able to find purpose and fulfillment in serving others, 

as all of us do as Senators, through elected office. I hope that 

will inspire others to seek office and to do public service. It 

is my hope that those who come to serve after me as a true 

citizen legislator will bring perspective and new ideas in a 

small way, a serendipitous way, or maybe a large way, and 

make this country a little better and contribute to this institution. 

You have heard me talk about, and champion at times, 

term limits. Most people don’t like them. They were popular 

for a period of time. I am a great believer in self-imposed 

term limits. Every morning you get up, you say I have 3 

more years, 2 more years, or 1 year, or a half year, or 10 

days, and you know that as every day goes by. If you don’t 

have an understanding that there can be an end, you tend 

to forget that. Self-imposed term limits are the extreme exVerDate jan 13 2004 09:56 Aug 30, 2007 Jkt 033206 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 C:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE06\33206.TXT CRS1 PsN: SKAYNE
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ception here today, not the practice of this city. I think as 

a consequence we are moving toward a body that has too 

much of a 2-year vision, governing for that next election, 

rather than a body with a 20-year vision governing for the 

future. 

As we consider the future of the institution, I urge that we 

ask ourselves what it is our forefathers envisioned. Is today’s 

reality what they foresaw? I urge that we consider our work 

in this Chamber. What is it all about? Is it about keeping the 

majority? Is it about red States versus blue States? Is it 

about lobbing attacks across the aisle or is it about war 

rooms whose purpose is not to contrast ideas but to destroy 

or is it more? When the Constitutional Convention met in 

1787, delegates considered how best to structure this legislative branch of new Government. They were determined not 

to repeat the mistakes made in the Articles of Confederation, 

which had a single, unicameral legislature. Speaking to the 

convention, Virginia’s James Madison set forth the reasons 

to have a Senate. His words: 

In order to judge the form to be given to this institution, it will be proper 

to take a view of the ends to be served by it. 

These were, first, to protect the people against their rulers 

and, second, to protect the people against transient impressions into which they themselves might be led. 

I think we need to remember this vision of the Senate that 

the Framers established—that the Senate is to protect people from their rulers and as a check on the House and on the 

passions of the electorate. Let us not allow these passions of 

the electorate to be reflected as destructive partisanship on 

this floor. 

Taking the oath of office, which many of our good colleagues will be doing shortly, commits each Senator to respect and revere the Framers’ dream. To my successor, Bob 

Corker, and to all the Senators who will follow me in service 

to this great Nation, I urge you to be bold, make the most 

of your time here, and look at problems with fresh eyes and 

the steely determination to give the American people a reason to believe in you and to hope for a better tomorrow. 

To serve in this grand institution has been a labor of love. 

To lead here is a challenging responsibility that is set out before me and each of us. It has been a profound honor to 

serve. 

I will close with just one story. It happens in southern 

Sudan. As many of you have heard me say, because it is 

such an important part of my life, I go to Sudan just about 

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every year—1,000 miles south of Khartoum and 500 miles 

west of the Nile River. I started going there in the mid to 

late 1990s. I had been there operating back in the bush, and 

I was ready to come home. Actually, it was in January. The 

State of the Union was a few days off. We finished operating 

in a hut. I operated by flashlight late at night. Somebody in 

a little hut said, ‘‘I want to see the American doctor.’’ Well, 

I didn’t want to go. I wanted to get back home. I wanted to 

get on the plane and come back home, but I went to see him. 

I was tired. I walked over and pulled the curtain aside—the 

rug that was used as a curtain—and in the back there was 

somebody smiling. You could see the bandages on his hands 

and legs, and I went over; and through a translator I said, 

‘‘I am the American doctor.’’ He said, ‘‘Thank you to the 

American doctor.’’ As a physician, I am accustomed to that 

because when you operate on somebody, they say thank you. 

So I said, ‘‘you’re welcome,’’ and I got ready to leave. He was 

frustrated and he said, ‘‘Come back.’’ He said. ‘‘Thank you for 

being the American doctor.’’ I still didn’t quite get it. He 

picked up his arm and said, ‘‘I lost my arm fighting in this 

civil war. I lost my leg 8 days ago. It was about 2 years ago 

that I lost my wife and my two children. Thank you for being 

the American doctor.’’

And then I started to get it. He was saying thank you for 

being the American doctor. Then he said, basically, that: It 

is you who are a representative of America, and for democracy and liberty and freedom I sacrificed my wife and my 

children and my arm and my body. Thank you for what you 

represent. 

Then all of a sudden, it began to hit me. To me, that image 

cuts through just about everything that we do. It is about 

preserving as best we can the great hope that we represent 

here in America, which is embodied in this institution, the 

freedom, the responsibility, the opportunity, the compassion, 

and the basic decency that is at the heart of who we are as 

Americans. Beyond Democrat or Republican—which came 

out of the campaign—now is the time to again remind ourselves and state again and again that beyond being Democrats and Republicans, we are Americans. Together, we are 

one people. It is our responsibility to uphold the dream and 

protect that hope for every American and indeed the people 

around the world who seek that freedom. 

I opened by saying that our time here is temporary; we are 

just passing through. Now is the time to close. Your patience 

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erything there is a season. We say that and hear it and tend 

to repeat it when there are changes. But to everything there 

is a season, and my season here draws to a close. Tomorrow 

is the time for birth and rebirth. Tomorrow is a day and a 

time for new rhythms. 

My dad did a great thing that I shared with some of you. 

Each of us should do this for our children or for the people 

we care about. He knew he was going to die in the next couple of years. We asked him to write down his thoughts, advice, and counsel for the next generation—not just his kids 

and theirs, but for the great-great-grandkids that he would 

never see, a simple 4 to 5 pages. He ended that letter to his 

great-grandchildren with the following words: 

The world is always changing, and that’s a good thing. It’s how you carry 

yourself in the world that doesn’t change—morality, integrity, warmth, and 

kindness are the same things in 1910, when I was born, or in 2010, or later, 

when you will be reading this. And that’s a good thing, too. Love, Granddaddy. 

So under the dome, it is time for fresh faces and fresh resolve. Change is good. Change is constructive. The Senate 

changes, the people who serve here change; but what doesn’t 

change is that every one of us who serves believes deeply in 

the genius of the American democracy. 

It is with the deepest appreciation that Karyn and I thank 

you all for 12 wonderful years. There are no words to describe the honor it has been. 

I yield the floor. 

(Applause, Senators rising.) 

÷ 

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will be very brief. I want to 

speak on another matter. I know we want to get to the hour 

of pre-vote time here shortly. 

Hopefully, tomorrow will officially end the 109th Congress. 

At the end of the day tomorrow, if we do our work today successfully, and tonight, the Senate will be able to adjourn. 

That will also mark, once we adjourn, this official change in 

leadership and change in the Senate agenda. I know many 

of my colleagues and many of my conservative allies view 

this change with a bit of trepidation, but change is good, 

change is constructive. It can be difficult, it can be painful, 

and it can be messy, but change forces us all to reexamine 

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[ xix ] 

who we are, where we are, and where we want to go; what 

we know, what we believe. 

I believe it is our responsibility to protect traditional, commonsense American values. I believe when we give the 

American people the freedom to invest their money as they 

choose, the economy is going to flourish. It is going to have 

more freedom to grow. At the end of the day, I believe good 

leaders don’t talk about principles—but good leaders lead on 

principle. They act, and they act with solutions, even if they 

don’t know that the outcome is going to be 100-percent successful every time a bill is taken to the floor. 

That is one of the things at least I tried to do. That is not 

to say let’s only take to the floor what will necessarily pass 

but what is the right thing to do, on principle; what is the 

right thing for us to be considering. 

During my tenure in public office, it is what I tried to do, 

to lead on principle and act with solutions. It does come from 

that surgical approach of fixing things, of operating, of action. 

For example, for 10 years we grappled with the issue of 

Internet gambling. We watched the industry mushroom from 

a $30 million industry in 1996 to a $12 billion industry 

today. We watched an addiction undermine families, dash 

dreams, and fray the fabric of a moral society. 

So we acted with a solution by passing the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act to provide new enforcement tools to prosecute illegal Internet gambling. 

Let me give you a few more recent examples of how we 

have led on principle, and acted with solutions. 

We passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety 

Act which creates a national sex offender registry, strengthens measures to prevent child pornography, and reinforces 

laws against child porn. 

We passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which renewed the first Federal law to strengthen 

prosecution efforts against human traffickers. 

We passed legislation securing the right to prayer in U.S. 

military academies. 

We passed legislation protecting the Mount Soledad Memorial Cross. 

We passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which 

allows for the 10-fold increase of FCC fines for indecency violations. 

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[ xx ] 

We passed Cord blood legislation that harnesses the power 

of stem cells in cord blood to develop new cures for lifethreatening diseases. 

We passed the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, which prohibits the gestation of fetal tissue in order to use it for research. 

We passed the Stem Cell Research Alternatives bill, which 

provides Federal funding for a variety of stem cell research 

that does not involve destroying human embryos. 

And perhaps most notably, we confirmed John Roberts 

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Samuel Alito as an 

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. 

We confirmed 18 circuit court nominees and 87 district 

court judges, including 6 previously obstructed nominees. 

America needs judges who are fair, independent, unbiased, 

and committed to equal justice under the law and we made 

sure that’s what America got. 

Over the past 12 years, what Republicans have done has 

changed our economy, our country, and our way of life for 

the better. 

Our record of success, combined with the lessons of November’s election, ensures that our party will rededicate 

itself to serving the interests of America, both here at home 

and around the world. 

That vision—optimistic, forward-looking, hopeful—will be 

grounded in the fundamentals of commonsense conservative 

values best found on Main Street and in families with whom 

we have the privilege of interacting all across the country. 

÷ 

Friday, December 8, 2006 

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as we serve in a class of Senators, we have several roles. We wear several hats. Probably 

the most important one is to represent the people who elected us, and that is our constituents back home in our home 

States. That has been for me a real honor over the last 12 

years, to serve the people of Tennessee. 

In addition to that, of course, we serve America as 100 individuals representing this entire country. That is a real 

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[ xxi ] 

privilege. If you are elected to leadership, you have other responsibilities. 

Twelve years ago, the people of Tennessee entrusted me 

with the responsibility to serve their interests in the Senate. 

I have done my best each and every day to meet the Volunteer State’s needs and to serve the people of my home State 

with dignity and honor. What an honor it has been to follow 

in the footsteps of former Senators Howard Baker and Bill 

Brock. What a tremendous privilege it has been representing 

the interests of the people of Tennessee. 

And serving alongside true statesmen such as Fred 

Thompson and Lamar Alexander—men who have dedicated 

so much of their lives to the people of Tennessee—has been 

a remarkably rewarding experience. 

When I first stood for election in 1994, I pledged to all 

Tennesseans that I would serve two terms in the Senate and 

then return home to live under the laws I had helped enact. 

I made that commitment because I believe strongly in the 

concept of the citizen legislator—spending years developing 

real world experience outside the political arena as I did in 

medicine and then bringing that expertise to the legislative 

process for a period of time, only to make way for the next 

citizen with his or her fresh perspectives and new ideas. 

As the time comes to resume my private life in the Music 

City, I have spent countless hours reflecting on the milestones in my service to Tennessee from which I derive particular pride. 

I think about accomplishments such as establishing a prescription drug benefit that provides quality, affordable coverage for more than 700,000 beneficiaries in Tennessee. 

I think about the State sales tax deduction, which I hope 

we will soon extend for 2 more years. Enacting that provision corrected a 15-year inequity in the Tax Code by allowing 

Tennesseans to deduct their State sales tax expenses from 

Federal income tax returns—and it resulted in additional 

savings of nearly $500 in taxes for more than 530,000 families across the State. 

I recall the hours spent combating methamphetamine, a 

drug epidemic that has plagued Tennessee and dozens of 

other States. 

I helped develop minimum Federal standards restricting 

access to the ingredients that produce methamphetamine, 

the drug our Nation’s local law enforcement officials have 

ranked as our greatest problem. 

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[ xxii ] 

I also enjoyed working with other members of the Tennessee delegation to establish a statewide methamphetamine 

task force and develop a statewide crime tracking system—

all in an effort to eradicate this devastating drug from our 

communities. 

During my time as majority leader, we also enacted a tobacco buyout that ended an outdated quota system that hurt 

Tennessee’s farmers by providing fair compensation that will 

bring a total of $767 million to tobacco communities in the 

State over the next decade. 

And we passed my National Park Fee Equity Act, a law 

that provides the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with 

an additional $200,000 to $300,000 each year by allowing the 

park to keep 100 percent of the user fees it collects. 

I was also pleased earlier this year when the Senate confirmed the final member of a TVA board modernized by legislation I nursed through the legislative process over a 9- 

year period—legislation that resulted in the first AfricanAmerican board member, the first West Tennessee board 

member, and the first chief executive officer in TVA history. 

In addition, we passed legislation I authored allowing TVA 

to refinance its debt at lower rates, thus saving roughly $100 

million per year. 

These reforms will help increase accountability and oversight at TVA, which benefits both the utility and its ratepayers. 

I have also worked extensively with my colleagues on the 

HELP Committee to extended health care and support services to Nashville, Memphis, and other emerging metropolitan 

communities disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS 

through reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act. 

The CARE Act provides funding for low-income, uninsured 

and underinsured individuals affected by HIV/AIDS, but 

none of Tennessee’s cities met the legislation’s original criteria to receive support—a fact I knew we had to correct and 

one which we rightly remedied. 

I have dedicated significant energy to strengthening Tennessee’s research infrastructure, and bringing both the Spallation Neutron Source Project and the National Leadership 

Computational Facility to Oak Ridge demonstrates our 

State’s leadership in advanced science and technology. 

I was also pleased to play a central role in the development of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation and the revitalization of the Central Medical District in Memphis by securing $8.1 million for these efforts. 

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[ xxiii ] 

And to ensure that we encourage the bright young men 

and women of our State to pursue an education in these 

fields that are vital to America’s competitiveness in the 21st 

century’s global economy, I also created the SMART Grant 

program—a $3.75 billion initiative that provides financial assistance to students seeking degrees in math, science, engineering, technology, and foreign languages critical to national security. 

I have tried to encourage economic growth in other ways, 

however, working closely with communities throughout Tennessee to provide the Federal assistance that can often enable local governments to pursue opportunities that will benefit their citizens for generations. 

I secured $100 million to construct sections of Interstate 

69 in Tennessee from Dyersburg to Memphis—a highway 

that will one day serve as an economic engine for much of 

West Tennessee. 

When community leaders in the Chattanooga area asked 

for assistance with the crumbling Chickamauga Lock and 

Dam, a structure providing access to hundreds of miles of 

waterway used for economic economy in East Tennessee, I 

helped ensure the authorization of a new 110 ft.-by-600 ft. 

replacement lock. 

Construction funding for the replacement structure has 

been successfully secured in each year since 2003, and after 

a long period of hard work and difficult discussion, the White 

House agreed to include the project in its most recent budget 

request. 

Several years ago, violent tornados ravaged Jackson, and 

local leaders sought my assistance in rebuilding badly damaged neighborhoods and city infrastructure. 

I was honored to secure almost $11 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to rebuild public housing lost as a result of the devastating storms and an 

additional $2.1 million for the city’s police department to improve communications during such emergencies. 

Nashville long sought a light rail system that could help 

alleviate the burden placed on its roadways and improve the 

flow of consumers into downtown—the heart of its economic 

marketplace. 

So I went to work and eventually secured $24.6 million in 

funding necessary to start and complete the Music City Star 

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[ xxiv ] 

tween the Riverfront Station in downtown Nashvil1e and the 

city of Lebanon in Wilson County just 3 months ago. 

And when the city of Memphis began redeveloping its 

riverfront, I lent my support to the cause and secured nearly 

$8.7 million for the Cobblestone Landing and Beale Street 

Landing projects. 

To help advance this work, I facilitated an agreement that 

will allow the University of Memphis Cecil Humphreys 

School of Law to relocate to the Postal Service Front Street 

Station in downtown Memphis—a move that will act as a 

cornerstone of riverfront redevelopment and reshape the law 

school’s future. 

I have also tried at every turn to provide steadfast support 

for Tennessee’s brave men and women in uniform as a sign 

of my gratitude and respect for their extraordinary efforts on 

behalf of our Nation. 

Because they deserve only the best facilities, I secured $32 

million to construct a new headquarters facility for the Tennessee Army National Guard in Nashville and an additional 

$31 million to consolidate personnel previously located in 22 

different buildings into a single, state-of-the-art command 

headquarters for the 101st Airborne and other units at Fort 

Campbell. 

Because they and their families deserve basic economic 

fairness, I helped secure passage of the Fort Campbell Tax 

Fairness Act, which now ensures Volunteer State residents 

working at Fort Campbell are spared from a State income 

tax like all other Tennesseans. 

I could spend many hours on the Senate floor recalling the 

countless ways in which I have worked to meet Tennessee’s 

needs during my 12 years as a Member of this body. 

But instead, I would rather thank the people of Tennessee 

for the opportunity. 

I will forever treasure the experience—and the many individuals I have had the privilege of befriending across our 

great State along the way. 

Electing me to serve two terms in the Senate is the greatest honor the citizens of Tennessee could have ever given me. 

No words could ever express my deep appreciation. 

I look forward to returning home and continuing my efforts to repay their generosity in the years to come. 

÷ 

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Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we were able to finish up 

our work in a very successful way before we leave for the 

year. We passed a continuing funding resolution, the critical 

tax extenders package, and a number of important legislative items, as well as a list of executive nominations. We 

have had a long week—a productive week—and I do want to 

thank all my colleagues for their patience and their dedicated efforts. 

As we close, I also want to thank all of the staff at the 

desk and those in the offices above this Chamber and below 

this Chamber who will be here long after we adjourn, preparing and finalizing all of the business we have just completed. 

I would be remiss if I did not recognize the pages who are 

with us tonight, and those who are not with us tonight, but 

those who have all left their home States to come to Washington for the semester to work in this Chamber. 

We thank each and every one of you for your tremendous 

work. It is 4:34 a.m. now, and we have finished a long day, 

and people always laugh when I say being Senate majority 

leader is like doing heart transplants. But times like this 

make it all very clear that they are very similar because at 

about 4:34 a.m. in the morning, we would be putting those 

last few stitches in the transplanted heart. And as you do 

that, you begin to feel that anticipation of that heart, all of 

a sudden starting to beat again and coming alive, which 

gives new life and rebirth to an individual who would otherwise die. 

I say that because that is what I would be doing if I were 

not here, as I was doing 12, 13 years ago. I may well be 

doing it next year. But that sort of change is good. And 

change can be, as I said yesterday, constructive. It can be rebirth. And it can give real hope. 

I gave my formal remarks on leaving the Senate yesterday, 

but the words I speak over the next 2 minutes are the very 

last I will ever give in this Chamber. In 2 minutes, maybe 

less, that door closes, and the chapter ends. 

After I gave my farewell address yesterday, I had dinner 

last night with Karyn and with my three boys, Jonathan, 

Bryan, and Harrison, who had all come back to hear my 

farewell address yesterday. They had to fly in from New 

York, take a train from New Jersey, and come up from Tennessee. And because we are empty nesters, they are all out 

of the house now. It is getting increasingly rare that we are 

all together. 

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[ xxvi ] 

But one of the things we did last night is we sat around 

a table—it happened to be at a restaurant—and thought a 

little bit about past experiences. And you can imagine how 

their lives have changed over 12 years. We knew this night 

would come, this final minute or so would come, for a long 

time. I have known for 12 years, and that is the normal life 

cycle that one can expect if you are a citizen legislator, which 

I have said again and again that is what I tried to be in selflimiting my period here in the Senate. 

But over that period, we have seen these three young 

boys—all very young—grow into three robust young men. I 

have seen a wife grow more beautiful by the day. I have seen 

a relationship of family, and a relationship between a husband and a wife, grow stronger over these 12 years through 

this opportunity the people of Tennessee have given me and 

Karyn and my three boys to serve them. 

I have seen faith strengthened and challenged by the responsibility the people of Tennessee give us as elected officials when they select us to represent their hopes and their 

dreams. 

I have also seen in this body, in watching my colleagues 

and being with my colleagues, a group of men and a group 

of women who are very good people, with good intentions, 

who are unselfish, who are people of faith, people of vision, 

people with real dreams, not perfect, as we all know—and 

we all have our foibles, and we all have our weaknesses—

but people who are good. 

My dad always used to say: ‘‘Good people beget good people.’’ And I think that as we go through periods of change 

here, we can have that tradition of good people in this body 

begetting good people to continue. 

I will close, again quoting from Dad’s letter I mentioned 

yesterday that he wrote to future generations prior to his 

death. 

I mentioned yesterday that that is a great thing for all of 

us to do later in life. What advice would you give people you 

will never see a generation or two generations later? I will 

close with his words from that same letter. This was after 

a list of things he wrote, giving his counsel and advice—very 

simple things, by the way, commonsense things. He said: 

Finally, I believe it is so terribly important in life to stay humble. Use 

your talents wisely and use other people’s talents to help other people. 

‘‘Help other people.’’

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TRIBUTES 

TO 

WILLIAM H. FRIST 

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[ 3 ] 

Proceedings in the Senate 

TUESDAY, September 26, 2006 

Mr. ENZI. . . . I would like to recognize two departing 

members of the [HELP] committee [Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions]: Majority Leader FRIST and Senator 

Jeffords. We are fortunate they chose to serve, and we are 

grateful for their contributions. Senator Jeffords is a past 

chairman of the committee, and, of course, Majority Leader 

FRIST has been the doctor on the committee and provided a 

perspective no one else could. I am proud of the work we 

have done here on the committee these past 2 years. By 

working together, we have established a track record of success. . . . 

FRIDAY, September 29, 2006 

Mr. ENZI. Mr President, soon the last remaining items of 

business on the legislative calendar for the 109th Congress 

will be taken up and the current session of Congress will 

end. When it does, several of our colleagues will be returning 

home and leaving public service. We will miss them and we 

will especially miss the good ideas and creative spirit they 

brought with them to add to our work here in the Senate. 

One of our colleagues we will all miss is BILL FRIST, our 

good friend from Tennessee. In his two terms of service he 

has compiled quite a remarkable record of accomplishments 

as one of Tennessee’s Senators and as majority leader here 

in the Senate. 

BILL’s interest in serving in the Senate began while he 

was attending Princeton as an undergraduate. He was an intern in the House when Representative Evins of his home 

State encouraged him to run. But, before you do, he said, do 

something else for 20 years or so. Then you will be ready to 

run for office. 

He knew that was good advice so he began a career that 

interested him and challenged him as much as politics did. 

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BILL FRIST became a surgeon and established a reputation 

as one of the best transplant surgeons in the Nation. 

We were fortunate that he chose that path in life, because 

his in-depth knowledge of the practice of medicine and our 

Nation’s health care system has been an invaluable addition 

to the debates we have had on those issues. His familiarity 

with health care from the perspective of the physician and 

his concern about rising costs as a Member of the Senate 

helped to guide our efforts as we took up these and other 

matters in committee and on the Senate floor. 

In the years he has served in the Senate, he has put his 

medical skills to practical use several times. When a gun 

battle had taken the lives of two Capitol Police officers, he 

went to the scene to help. Although he was unable to save 

the life of either officer, he was ultimately successful in saving the life of their assailant. On another occasion, we were 

fortunate to have him with us when Strom Thurmond collapsed on the Senate floor and needed assistance. Finally, he 

was able to revive and save the life of one of his own constituents who had been the victim of a heart attack. 

Many of our constituents remember BILL FRIST from the 

days in 2001 when the Senate was attacked with anthrax. 

Once again, BILL FRIST was there to provide support and encouragement, and in that calm, reassuring manner of his, let 

the Nation know that we were doing everything we could to 

minimize the present danger and return the Senate to our 

normal pattern of work as soon as possible. The anthrax attack was a challenge that had never been faced before in the 

Congress, and BILL FRIST showed his credentials as a leader 

during that difficult time for us all. 

During his service in the Senate, BILL has taken an active 

role in the consideration of a great many thorny and complicated issues that regularly come before the Senate. We 

were fortunate to have a doctor as our leader because, on 

many occasions, it was only BILL’s bedside manner that 

helped him to forge agreements and develop bipartisan 

agreements on the Senate floor. 

Looking back, the record will show that one of BILL’s 

greatest successes was the Medicare drug benefit. This new 

addition to the Medicare Program is helping seniors to pay 

for their prescription drugs and it is having a great impact 

on the quality of the health care we provide our Nation’s 

seniors. Although it is still going through its initial stages as 

it is introduced to the public, and we are working to ensure 

people understand the benefits it provides them, there is no 

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[ 5 ] 

doubt that we wouldn’t have had a prescription drug benefit 

program enacted into law at all—if not for the role BILL

FRIST played in the effort. Working with program opponents 

and organizations in the public sector that opposed the new 

program, BILL was able to resolve many of the doubts and 

uncertainties that surrounded it and ultimately get it enacted by the Congress and signed into law. 

In addition, and in what was perhaps his biggest achievement, BILL led a successful effort to pass an initiative to 

fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. He had a heartfelt 

interest in the legislation and firsthand knowledge of the 

problem it was designed to address because he had done volunteer medical work for many years in Africa. His witness 

of the impact of the disease on the population of that country 

inspired him to do everything he could to address and try to 

put an end to the suffering it caused. BILL can be very proud 

of the great result he achieved in that effort. That initiative 

is his legacy and it will save more lives over the years than 

we will ever be able to count. 

The record is clear. During BILL FRIST’s service in the Senate, especially his years as majority leader, the Senate and 

the Nation have faced challenges and addressed issues we 

had never had to deal with before. The war on terror, the detention of terrorists, the quality and definition of life, the future of our Nation’s school system, partial birth abortion, 

stem cell research, and so many more controversial issues 

have found their way onto the Senate floor for our consideration. 

Through it all, BILL FRIST’s knowledge, deep understanding of the issues involved, and determination to develop 

a consensus on them, so typical of his leadership style, enabled the Senate to be a proactive and fully involved deliberative body. The results he achieved during his years of 

service in the Senate will be his legacy and help provide the 

foundation for the work we will do together during the 110th 

session of Congress. 

Now BILL and his wife Karyn will have the time they have 

always wanted to spend with their children as BILL considers his next opportunity for public service. BILL FRIST has 

been a major part of our day-to-day routine in the Senate for 

12 years and we will miss his presence, his influence on our 

legislative routine, and his expertise on the issues we have 

considered on the floor. 

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TUESDAY, December 5, 2006 

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President . . . As we recognize, it is a distinct privilege and high honor to serve our country in any capacity, and certainly none higher than in uniform. But it is 

especially important that we recognize those who have given 

years of their lives, sacrificing their families, their own time, 

to help make a better world for all of us. I know of no capacity in which we serve our country that has given those who 

have had this rare opportunity to serve in the Senate anything more noble than trying to shape a better world from 

this Senate. 

These individuals who will leave the Senate, some on their 

own terms, some on the terms of the election, but, nonetheless, in their own specific way have contributed a great deal 

to this country. 

I take a few minutes to recognize each. . . . 

I conclude my recognition of our colleagues who will be 

leaving us at the end of this Congress by recognizing our 

leader, Senator BILL FRIST, from Tennessee. 

Senator FRIST has been referred to, as we all are, in many 

ways and in many terms. ‘‘Renaissance man’’ has been one 

of those terms that have described BILL FRIST. This is a 

unique individual. This is a man whose life has much been 

about serving others. 

For his leadership in the Senate during a very difficult 

time, this body owes him a great deal of thanks and gratitude. He will go on to continue to do significant things with 

his ability, his talent, his life, and we wish him well. We will 

miss him. We will miss his ability to, in an always steady 

way, help reach a consensus. 

Mr. President, in conclusion, it is not easy to put one’s self 

on the firing line and offer one’s self as a candidate for any 

office. It takes a certain amount of courage and, I suspect, 

a little dose of insanity. But nonetheless individuals who believe deeply enough to commit themselves to a cause greater 

than their own self-interests need to be recognized. Having 

nothing to do with me or you or any one individual, but it 

is the essence of our country, it is the very fabric of our democracy that makes it all work and probably gives rise to, 

more than any one reason, why we have been such a successful nation for over 200 years—because people from all walks 

of life, in every community, in every State, offer themselves 

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[ 7 ] 

man, county official, a sheriff, these individuals deserve recognition. 

We all make mistakes. That is who we are. But in the end, 

it is not unlike what Teddy Roosevelt once referred to in his 

magnificent quote about the man in the arena. And it is the 

man and the woman in the arena who change our lives. It 

makes a better world that shapes history, that defines our 

destiny. And for these individuals who will no longer have 

that opportunity to serve our country in the Senate, we wish 

them well, we thank them, and we tell them we are proud 

of them and their families and wish them Godspeed. 

Mr. President, I thank you for the time and yield the floor. 

WEDNESDAY, December 6, 2006 

Mr. REED. Mr. President, this is an opportunity to recognize the service of several of our colleagues who are departing from the Senate. To Senator Jeffords, Senator FRIST, 

Senator DeWine, Senator Talent, Senator Santorum, Senator 

Burns, and Senator Allen, let me express my appreciation for 

their service to their States and their service to the Nation 

and wish them well. . . . 

To all my colleagues who served and conclude their service, let me once again express deep appreciation for their 

friendship and for their service to the Nation. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, we are coming to the 

end of the session and 10 of our colleagues are retiring. I 

want to say a word about them, especially one of them, my 

colleague, Senator BILL FRIST, from Tennessee. 

I can still remember when BILL FRIST came to my office 

in Nashville in 1994 and said he wanted to run for the Senate. I didn’t know what to think. BILL FRIST lived in the 

neighborhood where I lived in Nashville, but I didn’t know 

him very well. Our ages are a little bit different and he had 

been away while I was Governor of Tennessee, practicing 

medicine and honing his skills. 

What I did know about him was that he was extraordinary. He was one of the pioneers in our country of heart 

and lung transplants. He performed the first one in Tennessee, the first one in the Southeast. When he decided to 

run for the Senate, only a handful of physicians in the world 

had made as many heart transplants as Dr. BILL FRIST. 

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He had almost no chance of being elected to the Senate in 

1994. However, he was elected. He had almost no chance, 

after having been elected, to help the Republicans gain the 

majority in 2002, but he did that. No one expected him to be 

the majority leader of the Senate, but he has been and he 

has done it very well. 

As we look at the record of the accomplishments over the 

last 4 years, Senator FRIST can take credit for his leadership 

in creating an environment where we have had tax cuts that 

have benefited Americans, where we have confirmed judges 

who will interpret the law rather than make it up as they 

go along. His hand was in the Medicare prescription drug 

benefit which benefits millions of seniors. We would not have 

had the $15 billion for HIV/AIDS in Africa had it not been 

for BILL FRIST. 

In Tennessee, we have had a sales tax deduction against 

our Federal income tax and a new governing board for the 

Tennessee Valley Authority, neither of which would have 

been accomplished were it not for BILL FRIST. When Lyndon 

Johnson was majority leader, he often said, having Lyndon 

Johnson as majority leader is good for the country and hasn’t 

hurt Texas one bit. I would say, having BILL FRIST as majority leader has been good for the country and it hasn’t hurt 

Tennessee one bit. 

He has been the perfect colleague. His ego has been completely under control in a body where that is rare and difficult. And one thing is certain: Anyone who knows BILL

FRIST won’t underestimate him again. History has proven 

that is a dangerous thing to do. I don’t know very many people who have ever been in public life who have as many interesting and important and viable options open to him as he 

does as he looks forward to the next step in his contributions 

to public service. 

One of the joys of being a Senator is simply the privilege 

of serving with other Senators. Each one of the Senators has 

something remarkable and special. For example, Senator 

FRIST was president of the skydiving club at Princeton when 

he was there. He spends vacations in Sudan, doing surgery 

on poor people. He once got up at 4 in the morning and went 

to the National Zoo to operate on the heart of a gorilla—

which I guess is a pretty good way of preparing for coming 

to the Senate floor and dealing with what he has to deal 

with here. He is not the only one who is a very special Senator. . . . 

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When the most recent class of Senators was sworn into office nearly 2 years ago, in the gallery were three women. 

One was the grandmother of Barack Obama. She was from 

Kenya. One was the mother of Senator Salazar, a 10th generation American. One was the mother of Mel Martinez, the 

new Republican National Committee chairman, who, with 

her husband, put her son on an airplane when he was 14 

years old and sent him from Cuba to the United States, not 

knowing if she would ever see him again. 

In a way, each one of us who is here is an accident. None 

of us knew we would be here. Each of us is privileged to 

serve, and one of the greatest privileges is to serve with our 

colleagues. We will miss them and we are grateful for their 

service. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, as the time for my departure 

from the Senate draws near, on behalf of the greatest blessing in my life, my wife Susan, and on behalf of myself, I 

thank all of my colleagues for their many courtesies and 

friendships that have been forged during the past 6 years. I 

offer a few concluding reflections about our time here together, as well as about the future of our Republic. . . . 

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I see others who 

wish to speak, and I will make a couple of brief comments. 

In the comments of the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Allen], 

his final couple of comments recalled for me a statement 

made in the closing of the Constitutional Convention in 

Philadelphia, when on the back of the chair of the presiding 

officer was a sunburst. Someone opined in that Constitutional Convention: Dr. Franklin, is that a rising sun or is it 

a setting sun? And Franklin ventured to say that with the 

birth of the new Nation, with the creation of the new Constitution, that he thought it was a rising sun. 

Indeed, it is that hope of which the Senator from Virginia 

has just spoken that motivates this Senator from Florida to 

get up and go to work every day, and to look at this Nation’s 

challenges, not as a Democratic problem or a Republican 

problem, but as an American problem, that needs to be 

solved in an American way instead of a partisan way. 

We have had far too much partisanship over the last several years across this land, and, indeed, in this Chamber 

itself. And of the Senators who are leaving this Chamber, I 

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ator’s great privilege to work with these Senators: Allen of 

Virginia, Burns of Montana, Chafee of Rhode Island, Dayton 

of Minnesota, DeWine of Ohio, FRIST of Tennessee, Jeffords 

of Vermont, Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sarbanes of Maryland, Talent of Missouri. 

As the Good Book in Ecclesiastes says: There is a time to 

be born and a time to die. There is a time to get up, and a 

time to go to bed. There is a time for a beginning, and there 

is a time of ending. 

For these Senators who are leaving, it is clearly not an 

ending. It is an ending of this chapter in their lives, but this 

Senator from Florida wanted to come and express his appreciation for their public service, to admonish those where admonishment is needed when this Chamber, indeed, this Government, has gotten too partisan, but to express this Senator’s appreciation for the quiet moments of friendship and 

reflection and respect in working together, which is the glue 

that makes this Government run. 

Whether you call it bipartisanship, whether you call it 

friendship, whether you call it mutual respect, whatever you 

call it, the way you govern a nation as large and as complicated and as diverse as our Nation is—as the Good Book 

says: Come, let us reason together—that is what this Senator tries to be about. And that is what this Senator will try 

to continue to do in the new dawn of a new Congress. So I 

wanted to come and express my appreciation for those Senators who will not be here, for the great public service they 

have rendered. 

Mr. President, I am truly grateful for their personal 

friendship and for their public service. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. DURBIN. . . . Senator BILL FRIST is our leader in the 

U.S. Senate. We have had some battles, of course, as you 

would. But we have also shown respect to one another, and 

I respect the job that he has done and wish him the very 

best. I might say of Senator BILL FRIST that his commitment 

to public service doesn’t end with the Senate. He has taken 

his amazing skills as a heart surgeon to some of the poorest 

places on Earth, spending spare time which he could have 

had with his family or relaxing somewhere, instead in some 

of the most outlying sections of the world helping the less 

fortunate. That speaks volumes about the heart of BILL

FRIST. 

I wish all of my colleagues who are retiring well as they 

begin the next chapters of their careers. 

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Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to bid farewell 

to several of my friends here in Washington. Too often we 

get caught up here in the back-and-forth of politics and lose 

sight of the contributions of those with whom we work every 

day. It is only at moments such as these, at the end of a 

cycle, that we have a moment to reflect on the contributions 

of our colleagues. And while we may not always see eye to 

eye, this Senate is losing several admirable contributors who 

have made many sacrifices to serve our democracy. . . . 

A number of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle 

will be departing in January, as well. . . . 

Finally, I wish to thank the majority leader, Senator 

FRIST, for his service to this body and this Nation. He is a 

man of remarkable skill and dedication, and he will now return to serving his constituents in the way he knew first—

as a healer. I am sure each of his future patients is already 

grateful for his skill and wisdom returning to touch their 

lives directly. 

America, when held to its finest ideals, is more than a 

place on the globe or a work in progress. It is the inspiration 

to those around the world and here at home to seek out excellence within themselves and their beliefs. It has been a 

pleasure to work alongside each of these gentlemen, who 

have helped me as I have found my way, sometimes literally, 

through the halls of the Senate, in the pursuit of these greater ideals that we all share: security, prosperity, and an 

America that we leave better than when we arrived. These 

ideals will resonate here long after we all are gone and another generation stands in our place making the decisions of 

its day. 

Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I want to pay tribute to Senator BILL FRIST, who has served Tennessee in the 

U.S. Senate for the last 12 years, the last few in the esteemed and challenging position of Senate majority leader. 

Senator FRIST was my partner on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on African Affairs for several years in which we both served as chairman or ranking 

member. I have appreciated his knowledge and passion for 

issues affecting Africa and the deep commitment he brings 

to the global fight against HIV/AIDS. I also have great respect for his commitment to bringing his medical expertise 

to remote areas in Africa. There is no doubt that he has personally made a significant contribution to helping improve 

the lives of people around the world living with HIV/AIDS. 

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I have also had the honor of sharing with Senator FRIST

the important work of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, Task Force on HIV/AIDS. Together 

with many distinguished experts, we have been able to contribute to the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We set 

course on a bold agenda to help nearly 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the world today. Senator FRIST understands the impact of this disease that continues to ravage individuals, families, communities, and entire economies. 

While we have much work left ahead, Senator FRIST has 

been pivotal in the efforts we have made thus far in the fight 

against this devastating disease. 

Here in the Senate, we will miss Senator FRIST’s dedication to Africa and his hard work to find a cure for HIV/AIDS. 

I thank him for his service and wish him all the best in his 

future endeavors. . . . 

THURSDAY, December 7, 2006 

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have had the privilege of 

being here for the 28th year beginning shortly. I calculated 

not long ago that I have served with 261 individuals. I am 

not about to try and review all of the many magnificent 

friendships I am privileged to have through these years. Indeed, if one looks at the rewards, of which there are many 

serving in this historic institution, the Senate, it is the personal bonds, the friendships that we so firmly cement and 

that will last a lifetime as a consequence of our duties of 

serving the United States of America and in our respective 

States. 

We are called ‘‘United States’’ Senators. I often believe it 

is the first obligation, our Nation, the Republic for which it 

stands. . . . 

I would also like to pay tribute to nine other U.S. Senators 

who will retire from the Senate in the coming days. . . . 

Now, I would like to take a few moments to salute our majority leader, Senator FRIST, as well as Senators Chafee, 

Burns, Santorum, DeWine, Jeffords, Talent, and Dayton. 

Each and every one of these U.S. Senators has served his 

State and his country with great distinction. 

Without a doubt, I could speak at-length in honor of each 

of these outstanding individuals. In light of time constraints, 

however, and the fact that so many of my colleagues wish to 

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similarly pay tribute, I shall endeavor to keep my remarks 

brief. 

First, I would like to say a few words about our distinguished majority leader, Senator BILL FRIST. You know, in 

this post-September 11, 2001, world, we think of national security as the most important issue of the day. Certainly, 

BILL has worked hard in that area over the years—not only 

as majority leader but as a hard-working member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But, right behind national 

security comes the issue of the health of our citizens, and 

BILL FRIST has been at the forefront of every major piece of 

health care legislation during his 12 years in the Senate. 

Whether it has been ensuring that America’s seniors have 

access to a sorely needed Medicare prescription drug benefit 

or whether it has been his efforts to encourage the use of 

new technology in medicine so that the knowledge of one 

doctor in one part of the world could help a doctor and a patient in another part of the world, BILL FRIST has improved 

the health care system for all Americans. 

The Senate will no doubt miss BILL FRIST’s leadership, but 

I have no doubt that his public service will continue, particularly his heartfelt health care work in impoverished areas of 

the world. I wish him, and his magnificent wife Karyn all of 

the best in their future. . . . 

In conclusion, over the years I have served with each of 

these 10 Senators, each has not only been a trusted colleague, each has also been my friend. I will miss serving 

with each of them in the Senate but know that each will continue in public service in some capacity. I wish each and 

every one of them well in the years ahead. 

Mr. President, I see a number of colleagues here anxious 

to speak, and I have taken generously of the time the Presiding Officer has allowed me to speak. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. REID. Mr. President [Mr. Cheney], parting really is 

sweet sorrow. Mr. President, thank you very much for being 

here today honoring not only Senator FRIST, our majority 

leader, but the entire Senate. 

On the surface, some may ask how the Senate and the operating room are the same. What do they have in common? 

Senator FRIST has shown us that helping people is what he 

did as a doctor and what he has done as a Senator. Serving 

others is a trait, as we have observed by knowing this good 

man, that he learned from his family. His father was also a 

doctor. As a young man he was obviously academically very 

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talented. He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. He 

went to Princeton University, which shows that he is someone who is talented academically and socially. He graduated 

from that great American learning institution and decided he 

was going to go to Harvard, which speaks well, again, of his 

intellect and, of course, his ability to get along with people. 

His surgical training came at Massachusetts General Hospital and Southhampton General Hospital in England. 

Senator FRIST was a pioneer, but he learned his transplant 

surgery from the pioneer. I have heard BILL FRIST talk about 

Norman Shumway on many occasions—the first doctor to 

perform a successful heart transplant in the United States. 

Senator FRIST—then Dr. FRIST—started Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Heart and Lung Transplant Center. I 

don’t know if anybody knows—I am sure someone knows—

how many heart and lung transplants Senator FRIST has 

done, but most say it was nearly 200. Think about that. 

Some of these operations took many hours, and some of them 

took days. 

I heard Dr. FRIST talk about those first transplants, where 

he actually went and got the organs and personally brought 

them back to the operating room. 

Things have changed since then. Pioneer, doctor, Senator 

FRIST has and will write a lot about his success as a surgeon 

and as a Senator. And not only will he talk with his family 

and his friends about this, things will be written about his 

service as a doctor and as a Senator. 

When we talk about these nearly 200 transplants, we are 

talking about 200 human beings whose lives have been 

saved by virtue of his talent. Senator FRIST helped hundreds 

of people continue their lives. Here, as a public servant, a 

Senator, he has affected the lives of millions of people. 

I have had the good fortune of serving with Senator FRIST

during his 12 years in the Senate. I knew him before I became the Democratic leader and, as all of you know, I spend 

a lot of time on the floor and I worked with him very closely. 

Over the years, we have had our ups and downs. It has 

been tough. These jobs, I can tell my colleagues up close, are 

not real easy. We have had problems over budgets, over committee structure, disagreements about schedules—oh, yes, 

about Senate rules. I have never once doubted that what 

Senator FRIST was doing he was doing because he believed 

in his heart it was the right thing. That is why I, Harry 

Reid, at his home on a very personal level, told Senator 

FRIST he should run for reelection. I don’t believe in term 

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limits. I truly believed then, as I do now, that he should 

have run for reelection. I told his good wife Karyn the same 

thing in their home. 

I have come to learn a number of things about BILL FRIST. 

He loves medicine. He has done his work in the Senate. But 

the thing that is first and paramount in his mind and his 

heart every minute of the day is Karyn and his three boys. 

All of you out here have seen our fights publicly, and we 

have had them, but they have been fair. I can remember 

only once has Senator FRIST ever raised his voice at me, and 

it was right from here because, even though I didn’t mean 

to, he thought I had said something that reflected upon his 

family, and I apologized to him. This man loves his family 

and is an example of how people should treat their family. 

Karyn is a wonderful woman. She has treated my wife—

my wife is a very shy person. She has always been very shy. 

Karyn has taken good care of her, and I will always, Karyn, 

appreciate that. 

In the years that go on, I, frankly, will never think about 

or, if I try, not remember any of the differences we had on 

the Senate floor, but I will always remember the friendship 

I have developed with the good man from Tennessee, a citizen legislator. 

Senator FRIST, Karyn, I wish you the very best. You are 

a good man. I love and appreciate everything you have done 

for the country and for me. 

(Applause.) 

The VICE PRESIDENT. The majority whip is recognized. 

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I, on behalf of all the 

Members on this side of the aisle—and Senator Reid acknowledged the same as well—am grateful for your presence 

here today. Being here today to help honor our outgoing majority leader, I know, means a lot to him. It means a lot to 

all the rest of us. 

Rare is the person who rises to the top of one profession, 

not to mention two. We are honoring today a man who has 

done that—he has risen to the very top of not one but two 

extraordinarily difficult professions. And I am absolutely certain, as all of his colleagues are, that he will excel in whatever challenge he takes on next. 

BILL FRIST embodies what our Founding Fathers meant 

when they spoke of ‘‘citizen legislators.’’ By his early forties, 

he had already risen to prominence as a renowned heart and 

lung surgeon. But BILL felt a call to public service. After 

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achieving enormous success in that field, he came to us in 

the Senate and rose to the top here as well. He had not 

sought the leader’s office, but in some ways it could be argued that it sought him and, once again, he was top in his 

field. 

After 4 years, BILL has been an effective and courageous 

leader. I have been here for a pretty long time now, Mr. 

President, and I can honestly say that the last 4 years have 

been some of the most productive years in the Senate that 

I have seen. 

Under BILL FRIST’s leadership, we have made the lives of 

people across America better and safer. More opportunity 

lies ahead for today’s children than ever before. Most of all, 

BILL has never relented in leading this Senate to fight the 

war on terror. America is more secure thanks to his tenacity 

and thanks to his talents. 

BILL is leaving us, as we all know, sticking to his promise 

to the voters of Tennessee to serve only two terms. Legend 

holds that Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer, became ruler of 

Rome at the behest of his fellow citizens. But after leading 

them to victory against invaders, he gave up the mantle of 

power and returned to his farm. 

Whether BILL returns to medicine or continues to serve 

the public in some other way, we can be sure of this: He will 

continue to be one of America’s great leaders. And if he does 

return to public office, it will be because he was asked by his 

fellow citizens to serve and to lead. 

Words such as ‘‘sacrifice,’’ ‘‘duty,’’ and ‘‘service’’ mean 

something to BILL FRIST. This Senate and this country are 

the better for it. 

It has been a joy to know BILL’s lovely family—his wife, 

Karyn, and his three sons, Harrison, Jonathan, and Bryan. 

They are all proud of their father and husband. 

I am going to miss you, BILL. It has been a great honor 

working with you every day over the last 4 years, and it will 

be an honor to take the baton from BILL to lead Senate Republicans during the 110th Congress. 

Just as Kentucky and Tennessee share a border 320 miles 

long, BILL and I share a bond as Senators, party leaders, 

and, yes, as friends. I can see that all of our colleagues on 

both sides of the aisle feel the same way I do. It is sad to 

see you leave. You have done a magnificent job. People come 

and go in the Senate over the years and, candidly, I guess 

some of them didn’t make a whole lot of difference. But you 

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did, and you will be remembered with great pride by all of 

us. Thank you for your service. 

(Applause.) 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The Democratic whip. 

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I join in this chorus of salutations and praise for the retiring majority leader. I listened 

carefully to Senator FRIST’s recollection of his public service, 

and I noted the first item on his agenda was the $15 billion 

in the fight against global AIDS. It is an issue on which we 

joined together many times, an issue where President Bush 

showed extraordinary leadership, and there was extraordinary bipartisan support for what he was trying to achieve. 

As one reflects on his life and his background, it was no 

surprise that that led the list. Senator FRIST dedicated his 

time before the Senate to the healing arts, and I think he 

brought some of that same dedication to his role in the Senate, trying to use his post as the Senator from Tennessee 

and as a leader in the Senate to heal the world and our Nation. I thank you for all your efforts in that regard. 

I know when he came to this job, it was thrust upon him 

rather quickly. I know he had his critics, and there might 

even have been a few on this side of the aisle from time to 

time, but, by and large, I think his leadership has been symbolized by a lack of cunning, a lack of sharp elbows and an 

effort to try and patch up our differences and get things 

done. Once again, you were the healer when you had the 

chance to do it. 

I have traveled to Africa, as he has, probably not as often. 

I have seen some of those dusty villages where there is no 

one to be seen for miles around. But I cannot imagine your 

taking your surgical skills to those villages and those huts 

and operating under a flashlight, hour after hour, day after 

day, week after week. That defines BILL FRIST, in my mind—

a person who may not have been recognized by anyone on 

the road to that village, did some good, and left a legacy that 

will be remembered. 

To you, to Karyn, to your family, let me add my voice in 

saying you left a great legacy in the Senate, and I wish you 

all the very best. 

(Applause.) 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee. 

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Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, former Senator Lyndon 

Johnson used to say about himself that having Lyndon Johnson as majority leader was good for the United States of 

America and it hasn’t hurt Texas one bit. 

When I think of our country and BILL FRIST, I think of 

lower tax rates, I think of two Supreme Court Justices, I 

think of a record number of judges who would interpret the 

law, rather than make it up as they go along. I think of the 

personal imprint of Senator FRIST on the prescription drug 

Medicare benefit millions of Americans need and are enjoying, and I think of the $15 billion generous gesture of this 

country toward Africa to combat HIV/AIDS, which would not 

have happened were it not for BILL FRIST. 

When I think of BILL FRIST and Tennessee, I think of our 

new TVA board to keep our rates low and reliable. I think 

of our ability to deduct our sales tax from Federal income tax 

and dozens and dozens of other things that have been good 

for Tennessee. 

When I think of BILL FRIST, I think of civility, of decency, 

a good smile, hard work, and an ego that is surprisingly 

under control for a Senator in the midst of all of this and an 

example of which his parents would be proud. So I think we 

can say today, and Lyndon Johnson wouldn’t mind, that having BILL FRIST as majority leader of the U.S. Senate has 

been good for our country and it hasn’t hurt Tennessee one 

bit. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized. 

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I join my friends and colleagues in paying tribute to a friend and a distinguished colleague. When BILL FRIST arrived here, there were at least 

some of us with some qualms on this side of the aisle because he ran successfully against one of our dear friends, 

Jim Sasser. So, initially, there was a natural reluctance 

among some of us about this doctor who had defeated a great 

friend and a great Senator. 

But early on it was clear that BILL was special. As someone who had been trained in medicine, in my own State of 

Massachusetts no less, he brought a new and fresh perspective to our national debates. 

He was obviously a person of impressive skill, and it is no 

surprise that he rose so quickly to become majority leader. 

The roles of Senators and physicians are profoundly different 

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tical—to help others to the maximum extent of our ability. 

And that is what BILL FRIST has done from the day he set 

foot in this Chamber. 

He was one of the first to understand the very real threat 

of bioterrorism to our Nation, and that was well before 9/11 

or the anthrax attacks. Senator FRIST knew firsthand that 

our public health infrastructure was incapable of meeting 

the threat of a massive natural epidemic, let alone a deliberate biological attack. It was a privilege to work with him 

on the first bio-terrorism legislation, which because of his 

leadership we were able to pass before 9/11. 

He has also been a pioneer in the effort to bring modern 

information technology into all aspects of health care, and to 

end the enormous human and financial costs caused by medical errors and by the needless administration of health care 

with outdated paper records. He has also helped shine a 

bright light on the serious problem of health disparities in 

our country. 

He has inspired each of us with his commitment to address the horrific tragedy still unfolding in the world, especially in Africa, because of AIDS. He has dedicated himself 

to this issue for years, giving of himself personally, and urging Congress to act more expeditiously. He made time to continue these missions of mercy, even after he became majority 

leader, and I was deeply touched by it every time. 

I have had the good opportunity to meet his family, and 

I know, as others have said, where his values come from and 

how committed he is to them. I hope he’ll be able to enjoy 

more time with them now without the burden of running the 

Senate. 

We wish BILL FRIST the best as he prepares to leave the 

Senate. We know he will have great success, and we thank 

him for his service to our country. We will miss the majority 

leader, but we know he will continue to use his immense talent to make a very real difference for all humanity in the 

years ahead, and continue to make us proud to call him our 

friend. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico is recognized. 

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I wanted to say a few 

words before the leader left. I even hate to call him leader 

or majority leader. He has become a great friend. I don’t 

know how to explain it, but I didn’t really think coming to 

the Senate that I would have a chance to meet somebody like 

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our good departing leader. I have met all kinds of people 

here. Former Senator Henry Bellmon once said: If you sit 

down with all 100 of them, no matter what you have said 

about criticizing them, there are no better 100 men put together in America than the 100 Senators who serve. I believe 

that is true. I am wondering now about whether the Senator 

wouldn’t rival military leadership. 

But the point is, I didn’t think BILL—I know we can’t do 

that in the Senate, use first names—but I didn’t think I 

would ever meet in the Budget Committee of the U.S. Senate—sitting in the very last seat available was this man 

whose name is so simple, but I had so much trouble with it. 

Do you remember? I didn’t say ‘‘FRIST,’’ I kept saying ‘‘First.’’

I don’t know why, but I did that for a long time, and then 

it became sort of a—people would come up and punch me so 

I would say it right. But whether it is ‘‘FRIST’’ or ‘‘First,’’ I 

guess they mean about the same thing to me. You are truly 

first. 

What we have gone through personally will not be reflected in the Record. People know I have had a few years 

of illness. It is mostly gone now. But I found out he was a 

superb doctor, and eventually I found out there weren’t too 

many better anywhere. That made it easy because I had a 

ready-made doctor and he was the best. And we would meet 

in his office, and people would think it was always business, 

but they had no idea that it was half business, a little bit 

family—we got to know each other’s families, and what a terrific and exciting thing that was for me—and I got to know 

about his excellence as a doctor. 

It will be a different Senate, there is no question. 

You have been dealt some cards that are not right. The 

years you were here, the things that were accomplished were 

not quite presented to the people as accomplishments or as 

big accomplishments, as they are. But if there is anybody interested in searching the Record during his term and during 

his leadership period to see what he accomplished, I believe 

you will have to end up saying there was nobody during his 

time here who accomplished more for his State and for the 

country. I believe an in-depth search of what he has done 

may even rival the best, even though he does not know how 

to legislate, and there is no question about that, and he does 

not know how to appropriate, and there is no question about 

that. He might not even know how to bring an appropriations bill up, and there might be no doubt about that. He 

may doubt it, but this Senator doesn’t, and I am his best 

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friend, but I have great doubts whether he knows how to get 

an appropriations bill up and passed. 

But I still believe the business of the Senate is not done 

in those very overt ways that people think. It is done as you 

sit down for long hours on a conference report and come out 

with a health bill that all of a sudden is better than anything we have had before. When you find out who did it, it 

might not have been named for the Senator or for the chairman of this or that, but you will find out that for many 

hours, many trips were taken to his office, and many times, 

he said: Wait and we will do it in the morning, and I will 

tell you how to do it. And that happened. 

I could go on for much longer, but I really wanted him to 

know that I just waited for my time. Being the fifth or sixth 

eldest here in seniority, I waited for my time here, and I 

didn’t want to wait until tomorrow or the next day in fear 

that I would not find time or that the Senate would not accommodate. So I thought I would, as usual, be late for a next 

appointment, but I have a good excuse for being late for this 

next one. 

I had to come here and say goodbye in a very interesting 

way, although it is not a goodbye. But I do think it is true 

that this will be a very major change in our friendship, in 

the way we react to each other, and the time we get to spend 

with each other. So it is an occasion, this leaving of the Senate, because you won’t come back very often. Even though 

you say you will, you won’t, and we won’t get to see you. I 

really believe we will remember you, and probably we will 

call you more times than you will call us because I think we 

may just from time to time figure out more times than you 

will that we need some advice, and it will probably run in 

your direction, not in ours, in the ensuing years. 

Good luck in whatever you do. It is not going to be this little return to being a country doctor, if that is what you are 

saying. You can’t sell me on that. You are not going to be 

a little country doctor; you are not even going to be a regular 

doctor. You are going to do something much bigger than 

that. It is just waiting. Somebody is going to place it in front 

of you, and then you will do it and it will be something big 

and exciting for America and for our people, probably more 

exciting than you did here, so that will be a third one—one, 

the heart transplants and all that, one here with us, and 

then you will have a third one. In the meantime, you can do 

a lot of duck hunting, no problem with that. You can probably go with me, if you want. But if you shoot too well, I 

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won’t bring you anymore because it is embarrassing. It has 

to be sort of a modest hunt, not so superb that I am embarrassed. So we will have to work that out some way. And your 

son—he can’t come anymore because he shoots too well. It is 

truly not the right thing to do. He should not be hunting 

with an old man like me. No way. But if it happens, we will 

accommodate it some way. 

Having said all that I should and much more, I will say 

goodbye and thank you. 

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to 

discuss a number of matters briefly. 

First, I want to join my colleagues in paying tribute to our 

majority leader, Senator BILL FRIST, who has done such an 

outstanding job in the past 12 years. 

Senator FRIST came to this Senate as a real all-American. 

He has displayed extraordinary talents, academically, professionally, in public service, as a family man, as a friend, at 

Princeton and Harvard Medical School, as a renowned heart 

and lung transplant surgeon, then selected to be the majority 

leader and has taken this body through a very difficult 4 

years and a very productive 4 years. 

A great deal has been said about Senator FRIST earlier 

today. I just wanted to add my personal congratulations to 

him on his service and to wish him well. . . . 

Mr. SANTORUM. . . . I thank our leader, BILL FRIST, my 

first leader I served under as a member of the leadership, 

Trent Lott, and the leader I served under when I came to the 

Senate, Bob Dole. Each and every one of them in their own 

way led differently. But in the case of Senator Dole, he was 

a larger-than-life figure to me, coming over to the Senate as 

a 36-year-old Senator. He was on his way to run for the 

Presidency. He took the time to be concerned about the 

issues that were important to me. He put me on the committees I needed to be on and gave me the opportunity that I 

will never forget and certainly will always be thankful for—

to manage and work on the welfare reform bill back in 1996. 

Of all the things I accomplished in the Senate, there is 

nothing I am more proud of than what we did in 1996 to reform the welfare system and transition it so millions and 

millions would fall off the rolls, find gainful employment, and 

change their lives and the lives of their families. I owe that 

to Bob Dole. He gave me the opportunity to stand at that 

manager’s chair for months in my second year in the Senate 

and taking on what I would argue was the most important 

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piece of legislation in that session of the Congress, the Republican revolution. 

I thank Trent Lott not only for his tutelage and mentoring 

me in the time I have been here as a leader, but for helping 

me in gaining leadership and being involved in the leadership in the Senate. 

I thank BILL FRIST for his friendship. His coming in as a 

leader when I was already in the leadership was a little different. He didn’t come in and point the finger and boss us 

around, he came in to learn. He came in to engage, to try 

to take the knowledge that was in the leadership group and 

use it to build a stronger group. I appreciate that. 

There is a humility in BILL FRIST. It is a very attractive 

quality and, I might also add, a rather rare quality if one is 

in the Senate, but a very attractive one and a very important 

one in Senators and leaders. . . . 

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that 

today I honor our distinguished majority leader, Senator 

BILL FRIST. After serving with BILL for the last 12 years, I 

have come to know that he is a fine leader, an accomplished 

physician and a wonderful person. He is a man of compassion and conviction who has served our country and this 

body well. 

It is only fitting that the majority leader of the U.S. Senate be a person who has dedicated his life to serving others. 

We all know of BILL’s remarkable service to people around 

the world as a transplant surgeon for over 20 years. We have 

applauded him on several occasions as he has embarked on 

pilgrimages to help bring needed medical expertise to impoverished countries. We have seen him fight to secure over $15 

billion in Federal funding to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in 

Africa. We have marveled at his dedication to serving the 

people of Tennessee. And time and again, we have witnessed 

him here on the floor of the U.S. Senate in the middle of the 

night conducting the people’s business and ensuring the legacy of the Senate continues in the most professional manner. 

I hope everyone understands what a sacrifice it is to take 

on leadership duties here in Washington. The Federal Government never sleeps. When elected representatives come to 

Washington, they bring with them the hopes, dreams, and 

aspirations of each one of their constituents. Those who take 

this responsibility seriously spend every waking moment addressing concerns and working for the people they represent. 

That is quite a responsibility to bear. When you add to that 

responsibility the duties of being a leader and looking out for 

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the interests of those you lead, the duties are immense and 

the sleepless nights really start to mount. I, for one, am 

grateful for BILL’s exemplary service and willingness to 

spend his life looking out for the interests of others. 

Over the last 4 years, as BILL has been majority leader, I 

have had several occasions to seek him out and ask for his 

advice and counsel. In every instance, he has made himself 

available. There have been times when I have been working 

on issues of great importance to the citizens of Utah until 1, 

2, or even 3 in the morning and, even though the items we 

were working on did not impact BILL or his constituents, he 

and his staff were gracious enough to stay up and work with 

me. For that I am grateful. 

As a highly trained physician, BILL has changed the way 

the Senate approaches health care policy. As a member of 

the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, two committees 

with jurisdiction over health care issues, BILL has used his 

insight and training to shape and move legislation which 

greatly improves the health of Americans and the health 

care system in general. His skill as a physician has greatly 

improved the knowledge of this body and has made the lives 

of countless people better. 

Tennessee’s storied history of capable Senators is long and 

includes such names as Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, 

Howard Baker, and, my good friend, Fred Thompson. These 

men represented the best of what America has to offer, and 

BILL FRIST has done much to add to this great legacy. As 

majority leader, BILL has shepherded through some very important legislation, including the Medicare prescription drug 

benefit legislation, scores and scores of tax cut legislation for 

the American people, legislation to reduce health care disparities among races, legislation to make health care more 

affordable and accessible, legislation to bolster America’s defenses against bioterrorism, legislation to reduce childhood 

obesity, legislation to prevent childhood vaccine shortages, 

and legislation fighting drug abuse. 

BILL’s willingness to support Federal funding for stem cell 

research this year made a huge difference in the national debate. I truly appreciated BILL’s support earlier this year to 

pass legislation that would make more embryonic stem cell 

lines available for Federal funding. Stem cell research is one 

of the most important issues we face today. Stem cell research gives hope to millions of people who have none. More 

than 100 million Americans suffer from heart disease, canVerDate jan 13 2004 09:56 Aug 30, 2007 Jkt 033206 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 C:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE06\33206.TXT CRS1 PsN: SKAYNE
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cer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, 

and so many other life-threatening and life-debilitating diseases. Thanks to BILL’s support, on July 18 of this year, the 

Senate passed H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, by a vote of 63 to 37. H.R. 810 would have allowed 

Federal funding for stem cell research using stem cell lines 

derived under strict ethical requirements from excess in 

vitro fertilization embryos, regardless of the date they were 

derived. I am grateful to BILL for taking such a bold and courageous stand on this issue for those suffering from these 

dreaded diseases and who will be helped by this research. 

In closing, BILL is a consummate family man who cherishes family and the values family represents. He has been 

married to his wife Karyn for 22 years and, even as majority 

leader of the U.S. Senate, he has always made time for his 

three sons: Harrison, Jonathan, and Bryan. 

There is no doubt BILL will be successful in any endeavor 

he undertakes as he leaves this great body. He has proven 

himself time and again and there is no question in my mind, 

he will be successful in the future. 

Mr. President, I appreciate the efforts and service of our 

good majority leader, BILL FRIST. He is a great man, a great 

patriot, and a great friend, and I wish him well in his future 

endeavors. 

Mrs. CLINTON. . . . Finally, I also wish the very best to 

my Republican colleagues who will leave the Senate at the 

conclusion of this Congress. The Senate, at its best, is a body 

that promotes bipartisanship, deliberation, and cooperation, 

and the dedication to shared values. It has been a privilege 

to work with my departing colleagues on the other side of 

the aisle. 

FRIDAY, December 8, 2006 

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I have a few more minutes before the 10:30 vote, and I take this time to say a few 

words about some of my colleagues who are retiring. We had 

a good bit of time yesterday devoted to their tremendous contributions, and as each of us, the 100 of us, do know each 

other pretty well, I have come to the floor to say a few things 

about several of the colleagues I have had the distinct pleasure of working with very closely. 

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Mr. President, one is, of course, Senator BILL FRIST, our 

retiring majority leader. I had the wonderful opportunity to 

be invited to travel with Senator FRIST. I guess you could say 

it was clearly an opportunity. It was not necessarily a pleasurable trip in the sense that the first trip I took with him 

was to tour the devastation of the tsunami. Soon after he assumed the role of leader, the tsunami hit the Indian coastline. It was one of the largest disasters in the recent history 

of the world. 

I had a chance to go to that region with Senator FRIST. I 

actually saw him firsthand don his doctor’s coat and take off, 

if you will, his hat as Senator and put on his coat as doctor 

and operate. I agreed to go on that trip with him under one 

condition, that I myself would not have to go with him into 

the operating rooms. So I stayed outside and talked with 

people while he went in and actually did the hard work of 

saving people’s lives and bringing them back to health. 

But what I will most remember about that trip—and there 

were about six of us on it—is that he was the first one 

awake in the morning, the last one to go to bed at night, constantly working until the point where those of us said we are 

unlikely to ever travel with him again because we could not 

get any rest through the entire week and were so exhausted 

when we got back. We said: If he calls again to ask us to 

travel, tell him I am doing something else. I am kidding, of 

course. But I say that with the greatest admiration for a 

man who has an extraordinary work ethic. And through so 

many ups and downs, literally, of these helicopters and trips, 

I remember him staying so steady and so calm, even when 

we saw some of the most horrific sights you can imagine. 

But he has led this Chamber and brought his own style of 

leadership and his own gifts that God has given him to this 

Chamber. I am a Senator who truly admires that particular 

aspect of his service and wanted to put that into the Record 

in a small way this morning. . . . 

To all of our retiring Members, I say thank you. Thank 

you for your efforts on behalf of my State when you were 

needed and thank you for your service to America. 

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I also will say a word about 

a couple of my colleagues who are leaving, and I will be 

brief. . . . 

I know we were all impressed with the comments of our 

majority leader, BILL FRIST, yesterday. I wish him Godspeed 

in his new endeavors. He certainly has been a joy to work 

with as part of the Republican leadership because of his good 

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temperament, his wise counsel, his knowledge of human nature, and his deep commitment to this body, the people of 

Tennessee and, most importantly, to the United States of 

America. . . . 

I know we all move on at some time and that none of us 

is irreplaceable. But by the same token, these colleagues of 

ours who will be leaving will be missed and they will be remembered for their great service to the Senate, to their 

States, and to the United States of America. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. DEWINE. . . . BILL FRIST and I came to the Senate together in 1995. Karyn and BILL are very good friends. BILL

has been an unbelievably accessible leader. We share a passion for fighting the spread of AIDS. BILL’s public role in 

that cause is obvious and apparent to everyone. But what is 

not so obvious and what is little known is what BILL FRIST

has done behind the scenes, what his role has been in working with so many people, working with the White House and 

others to get this job done. No one has played a bigger role. 

And when the history is written, BILL FRIST’s name will be 

there in bold print as someone who has saved so many, 

many lives. . . . 

Mr. President, I want to wish the best to all of my fellow 

Senators who were defeated this fall or who are retiring this 

year—Senators FRIST, Santorum, Talent, Burns, Allen, 

Chafee, Dayton, and Jeffords. They are all good people and 

all good friends. I wish them well. . . . 

Mr. DODD. . . . Mr. President, today I pay tribute to my 

departing colleagues who have, for a time, lent their talents, 

their convictions, and their hard work to this distinguished 

body. I may have had my disagreements with them, but the 

end of a term is a time for seeing colleagues not simply as 

politicians, but as partners who have ‘‘toiled, and wrought, 

and thought with me.’’ Each, in his own way, was distinctive; 

and each, in his own way, will be sorely missed. . . . 

Last but not least—the departing majority leader, BILL

FRIST of Tennessee. His leadership position has only been 

the cap on a lifetime of accomplishment. BILL FRIST is a 

leading transplant surgeon who has performed more than 

150 heart or lung transplants, as well as a highly successful 

medical businessman. The same drive that fueled him in politics, medicine, and business also inspired him to earn his pilot’s license and complete seven marathons. Senator FRIST

will be remembered as a competent majority leader, not to 

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mention as the first medical doctor elected to the Senate 

since 1928. 

After pursuing his medical career for nearly two decades, 

BILL FRIST established himself in Tennessee politics and was 

elected to the Senate in 1994 and was reelected in 2000 with 

the highest vote total for any statewide election in his State’s 

history. As the Senate’s only medical doctor at the time, he 

attended to the victims of the 1998 Capitol shooting, and he 

also served as a respected spokesman on anthrax and bioterrorism following the terrorist attacks of 2001. 

Besides leading the Senate since 2003, BILL FRIST found 

recognition for his outspoken positions on Medicare reform, 

judicial nominations, and social issues. He also worked to establish a nuanced position on stem cell research. Though we 

didn’t always see eye to eye, we were able to work together 

on important legislation, including bills on obesity prevention and food allergies. And I think I can speak for all of my 

colleagues when I thank him for his hard work in running 

the Senate for the past 3 years—or, as a predecessor put it, 

‘‘herding cats.’’

BILL FRIST is returning to his philanthropic work and his 

medical practice, where I am sure he will find his success 

undiminished and his skill undulled. I wish him, his wife 

Karyn, and their three sons many happy years. 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the great Senator Daniel Webster once remarked that the Senate is a place ‘‘of equals of 

men of individual honor . . . and personal character.’’

He was right, and we can see what he was talking about 

in the fine men the Senate is losing to retirement at the end 

of this Congress: Senator FRIST, Senator Sarbanes, Senator 

Jeffords, and Senator Dayton. 

On previous occasions, I have talked about how much I appreciated serving with Senators FRIST and Jeffords. Today, I 

would like to say a few more words about Senators Sarbanes 

and Dayton. . . . 

Mr. President, Mark Dayton, like Paul Sarbanes, like Jim 

Jeffords, like BILL FRIST, will be missed. 

The Senate—and our country—are better off because of 

their service. 

Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, today, I rise to acknowledge and honor the good work and service of my colleague 

from Tennessee, Senator BILL FRIST. As a Senator for the 

past dozen years, and majority leader for the past 4, Senator 

FRIST has been a leader of strong resolve on behalf of his 

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home State and our entire Nation. His work in the U.S. Senate will be remembered for a long time to come, and I personally owe Senator FRIST a debt of gratitude. 

He has been an advocate of the offshore drilling agreement 

that would benefit not only the people of my home State of 

Florida, but millions of Americans living in the gulf coast region—this plan would reduce America’s reliance on foreign 

sources of energy and is vital to our future. I applaud Senator FRIST for recognizing and acting so decisively on this 

important issue. 

Senator FRIST has also been a dedicated leader on immigration reform and I thank him for taking on this divisive, 

yet necessary issue with such a keen understanding of what 

our Nation needs. I also know how passionate Senator FRIST

is about national security and defense. We were able to travel to and around Iraq together, and while there, we had the 

opportunity to personally thank some of our troops for their 

courage and incredible sacrifice. I was appreciative to have 

that experience with someone who certainly knows the 

meaning of service. 

On a personal note, Senator FRIST made sure that I would 

be able to pay my respects to Pope John Paul II—and I cannot say enough about how much that has meant to me and 

to my family. Thank you for that and for your relentless 

leadership. Thank you for your time and for your counsel. 

Thank you for your friendship. 

Senator FRIST is a fine Senator and a true gentleman. We 

will miss him a great deal here in Washington. Yet all of us 

know how well he will do as he returns to his long and distinguished career in medicine. The people of Tennessee are 

fortunate to have back their revered Dr. FRIST. I wish my 

best to Senator FRIST and his family always. . . . 

Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to honor Senator 

BILL FRIST, whose sense of public service harkens back to 

ancient Athens when every citizen, in order to be called an 

Athenian, served in a public capacity for the good of the 

State. And it is more than fitting that this Senator, this son 

of Tennessee, comes from the only place in the United States 

with a full-scale replica of the Parthenon, for BILL First—

like the Athenians of old—sees himself first as a citizen 

above all else. 

Senator BILL FRIST and I arrived in the U.S. Senate in the 

same class in 1994. And only 9 years later, he was chosen 

Senate majority leader—a rapid ascent by anyone’s count. In 

the time that Senator FRIST has served his country in the 

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position of leader, he has worked ceaselessly to translate 

ideals and principles into tangible improvements in the daily 

lives of the American people. For me, it has been a tremendous privilege over the years to work closely with him on 

many issues and serve with him on the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Committees on Commerce, Small 

Business, and Finance. 

Senator FRIST’s allegiance to serving others has been nothing short of exemplary. He went into medicine because he 

cared about people. His profound dedication to public service—to the American people and the people of Tennessee—

grew out of an earlier devotion to thousands of men and 

women whose dilemmas and struggles Dr. FRIST came to understand firsthand. No wonder he takes such great pride in 

being known as a ‘‘citizen legislator’’—and with good reason. 

As he prepares to leave this Chamber, we recall that when 

the leader spoke about America’s uninsured or the rising cost 

of health care or about the dangers posed to our communities 

by the threat of bioterrorism, his insights are rooted, not in 

theory, but in years of up-close and personal contact with the 

people who sent him to Washington in the first place. We 

also remember that Senator FRIST was the first practicing 

physician to occupy a U.S. Senate seat since 1928—in fact 

the sign on his office door didn’t say ‘‘majority leader’’—it fittingly read, ‘‘Dr. BILL FRIST, M.D.’’

He has held his oath of office with distinction, just as he 

has kept to the 2000-year-old Hippocratic precept ‘‘to do no 

harm,’’ and in fact, he has gone well beyond that tenet, as 

he has done and will continue to do a world of good. We will 

miss his perspective and leadership and wish him and Karyn 

all the best as they pursue this next phase of their life and 

service together. . . . 

Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, I would like to pay tribute 

to the Republican Members of the Senate who will not be returning in the 110th Congress. Senators George Allen; 

Conrad Burns; Lincoln Chafee; Mike DeWine; Dr. BILL

FRIST; Rick Santorum; and Jim Talent have served their constituents with honor and distinction during their tenure here 

in the U.S. Senate. All care very deeply for this great Nation 

and I hope they will have continued success in their future 

endeavors. . . . 

Majority leader BILL FRIST has run the Senate through difficult and trying times and he has done it well. Senator Mike 

DeWine, my neighbor to the north, has represented the 

Buckeye State with great distinction and has committed over 

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30 years of his life to public service. Senator George Allen 

represented the Commonwealth of Virginia in the U.S. Senate for 6 years, and he worked closely with me to make 

America safer by helping usher through important legislation to arm cargo pilots. Senator Jim Talent has had a great 

career in Congress and wrote the blueprint to the welfare reform bill of 1996. And Senator Lincoln Chafee has continued 

the proud legacy set forth by his father and my friend, Senator John Chafee. 

Mr. President, I would like to again commend all of our departing Republican Senators. I am proud of what they accomplished here in the U.S. Senate. They will all be missed, 

and I wish all of them the very best. 

Mrs. HUTCHISON. . . . Mr. President, I would like to conclude with Dr. BILL FRIST, who has dedicated his life to helping people. 

Though many of us have come to know Dr. FRIST best in 

his current role as our leader, his contributions to America 

exceed elected office. 

Dr. FRIST first came to Washington in 1972 as an intern 

for Tennessee Congressman Joe Evins. Congressman Evins 

told the young intern that should he ever want to serve in 

Congress, he should first excel in a profession other than politics and then bring that experience back to Washington. 

Dr. FRIST did just that. 

During a stellar 20-year career in medicine, Dr. FRIST performed over 150 heart and lung transplant procedures, including the first lung transplant and the first pediatric heart 

transplant in Tennessee and the first successful combined 

heart-lung transplant in the Southeast. 

He always hoped to one day serve America at a broad policy level, where he could advance medicine and improve the 

quality of life of the Nation. 

Dr. FRIST returned to Washington in 1994, becoming the 

first practicing physician elected to the Senate since 1928. As 

a U.S. Senator, BILL FRIST has been one of the leading voices 

on health issues in America today. 

He moved quickly up the leadership ranks, becoming deputy whip in 1999, chairman of the NRSC in 2000, and finally 

majority leader in 2002. 

In the Senate, Dr. FRIST has worked tirelessly to strengthen Medicare, provide seniors with better access to prescription drugs, reduce health care disparities among races, and 

make health care more affordable and accessible. 

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He has also been one of America’s strongest advocates for 

increasing funding for global HIV/AIDS. He sponsored landmark legislation to provide $15 billion to combat global HIV/ 

AIDS in African and Caribbean nations hardest hit by the 

disease. This law will literally save millions of lives and 

stands as one of the greatest public health accomplishments 

in modern history. 

Many of us also remember Dr. FRIST utilizing his medical 

skills in 1998, when a gunman shot and killed two U.S. Capitol Police officers in the Capitol. The gunman was also shot 

and seriously wounded during the incident. Dr. FRIST came 

to the aid of Officer Jacob Chestnut, who later died of his 

wounds, as well as the gunman, who survived because of Dr. 

FRIST’s actions. 

After the event, Dr. FRIST told Capitol reporters: 

At the time, I did not know he was the alleged gunman, 

and in truth, as a physician, you try to focus on resuscitation. 

People have said ‘‘If you knew that, would things have 

changed?’’ And the answer is, ‘‘No.’’

‘‘As a physician, you’re trained to focus, and that’s what 

you do year after year. You’re not a judge; you’re not a jury. 

You’re a physician.’’

Dr. FRIST never stopped being a physician. Throughout his 

12 years in the Senate, he always had the Nation’s health 

in mind. He was always a champion of medicine, and his 

class and integrity is unquestioned. 

The Senate will truly miss his leadership, and we will miss 

all of our departing friends. 

UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT—TRIBUTES TO RETIRING 

SENATORS 

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the tributes to 

retiring Senators be printed as a Senate document and that 

Senators be permitted to submit tributes until December 27, 

2006. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

WEDNESDAY, December 27, 2006 

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, it has been an honor and a 

privilege to work with Senator BILL FRIST for the past 12 

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years. BILL has been a solid leader for our party and he has 

served the people of Tennessee with distinction. 

Senator FRIST came to politics through a nontraditional 

route—through the operating room. BILL got involved in politics because he believed he could do even more for his patients—and the people of Tennessee—in the Senate. And he 

was right. BILL’s meticulous approach to this job is exactly 

what you would expect of a person with his training. He 

never gave up on his goals and worked tirelessly to see them 

into law. 

I became President pro tempore of the Senate close to the 

time when BILL became our majority leader. I enjoyed working by his side and thank Leader FRIST for including me—

as President pro tempore—in all leadership meetings. Senator FRIST also traveled with us to China for U.S. Interparliamentary Group meetings. Once our meetings were finished, he continued on to Africa for medical mission work. 

As majority leader, BILL carried the administration’s message. He fought hard for the President’s judicial nominees. 

And as we saw yesterday during his farewell address, BILL

leaves us with great honor and recognition. Our leader will 

now return to where, in some ways, his heart has always 

been—the practice of medicine. But deep in my heart, I feel 

that public service will again call BILL to give of his time and 

talents to help preserve our democracy and our freedoms. 

Catherine and I will miss being with BILL and Karyn. . . . 

Ms. COLLINS. . . . Mr. President, as we come to the close 

of a Congress that has seen too much partisan struggle, it 

has been heartening to observe the bipartisan outpouring of 

deep respect and kind regard for the retiring senior Senator 

from Tennessee, Dr. BILL FRIST. 

I join in that praise. Senator FRIST has exemplified the collegial traditions of the Senate, balancing forthright advocacy 

for his views and for his party’s positions with courtesy and 

respect for those who disagreed with him. He has been an 

effective Senator for his beloved State of Tennessee, a skillful 

leader for his party caucus, and a gentleman in his dealings 

with Senate colleagues. 

We all know that many of our fellow citizens are cynical 

about Congress, seeing this branch of government as a haven 

for politicians fixated on short-term political advantage and 

personal aggrandizement. They should take note of people 

like Senator FRIST, who is truly an example of a Renaissance 

man in government. 

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If a writer created a protagonist with the interests and accomplishments that Senator FRIST has shown, an editor 

would be nervous about taxing readers’ credulity. Yet the 

facts are plain. Our friend from Tennessee is not only a 

hard-working and successful political leader, but also a surgeon, a teacher, a philanthropist, an author, an aircraft pilot, 

a marathon runner, and a devoted family man. 

Members of Congress have many opportunities to enact 

measures that will protect, enrich, and save lives. But we 

usually act at a distance, as agencies use the authorities and 

carry out the mandates we create. Few of us can take credit 

for personally saving lives as Dr. FRIST has done many times 

at the operating table. And few of us can bring to bear the 

combination of professional training and personal dedication 

that he has displayed on his repeated medical missions to 

Africa and in his policy work on the HIV/AIDS crisis. He was 

also the first doctor on the spot for the 1998 shootings of two 

Capitol Police officers, and he ably served as an informed 

spokesman for Congress during the 2001 anthrax attacks in 

the Capitol mail system. 

Senator FRIST has served his party well. As chair of the 

National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2002, he 

helped restore the party’s majority in the Senate. As the 

unanimously elected majority leader, he served both his 

party and his country well on policy matters like tax-law 

changes that eased burdens on citizens and encouraged 

growth in business activity and employment. 

Senator FRIST also supported the Medicare prescriptiondrug benefit and the creation of health savings accounts—

measures that have saved billions of dollars for the elderly 

and given millions of Americans new opportunities for controlling their health care costs. These are especially helpful 

legislative initiatives in States like my native Maine, where 

the proportions of senior citizens, small business owners, and 

the self-employed are significant. 

Senator FRIST leaves this Chamber with an overflowing 

and bipartisan store of goodwill and gratitude. I am pleased 

to be among the many Senators offering thanks for his years 

of service and best wishes for many years of good works to 

come. . . . 

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MONDAY, January 8, 2007 

Mrs. DOLE. Mr. President, it is an honor indeed to pay 

tribute to a number of fine individuals who I am fortunate 

to call not just my colleagues, but also dear friends: Senators 

BILL FRIST, George Allen, Conrad Burns, Lincoln Chafee, 

Mike DeWine, Rick Santorum and Jim Talent. 

One of the greatest losses to the Senate is the departure 

of our majority leader, Dr. BILL FRIST. I first became acquainted with BILL when he called me during my time as 

president of the American Red Cross to say that he would 

travel to Africa with us to volunteer as a surgeon. 

Back then, I immediately recognized BILL’s intelligence, integrity and compassion for others. I saw how dedicated he 

was about sound policy—especially health care policy—and 

how dedicated he was to helping those most in need, whether 

they be in America, in Africa, or anywhere in the world. And 

I saw how his colleagues quickly came to respect him, to rely 

on his judgment, and to value his counsel. 

In fall 2001, when terrorism hit home in the U.S. Capitol, 

we saw how BILL’s colleagues immediately turned to him for 

his guidance and expertise, and BILL responded to the challenge. For example, he quickly transformed his Senate 

Website into the best source of information for Senate staff 

on the issues surrounding possible anthrax exposure. And he 

was willing to speak with each and every Member of the 

Senate community to allay concerns with accurate medical 

information. BILL utilized his expertise to write legislation to 

help protect the entire Nation from the scourge of bioterrorism. 

For the past 2 years, I was honored to serve as a member 

of BILL’s leadership team. As our leader, BILL displayed extraordinary integrity, care and thoughtfulness in dealing 

with every Senator, and he worked tirelessly to bring together his colleagues for the betterment of our Nation. 

BILL’s record of achievement as our majority leader is exemplary. As a result of his steady leadership, we succeeded 

in securing historic tax relief that has helped put more 

money in the pockets of hard-working Americans while paving the way for today’s stunning economic recovery. His leadership improved life for our seniors by lowering the cost of 

prescription drugs. He helped spearhead important reforms 

of our tort system and bankruptcy code. Under BILL’s leadership, we passed a comprehensive energy bill that reduces our 

reliance on foreign oil. And to help keep our Nation’s fiscal 

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house in order, BILL led the fight to pass a landmark deficit 

reduction plan that put some brakes on mandatory Federal 

spending. Perhaps most important, BILL’s leadership was indispensable in helping place men and women on our Federal 

courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, who will strictly 

interpret the law rather than try to legislate from the bench. 

During BILL’s 12 years in the Senate, our Nation faced 

many challenges and many changes. But BILL retained his 

strong sense of direction, his dedication to reaching out to 

those most in need, and his devotion to his family—Karyn, 

Harrison, Jonathan, and Bryan. As he has done in medicine 

and in public service, I know that in future endeavors BILL

will continue to serve and help his fellow man. . . . 

As these men—BILL FRIST, George Allen, Conrad Burns, 

Lincoln Chafee, Mike DeWine, Rick Santorum and Jim Talent—conclude their service in the U.S. Senate, let me say 

that I am so proud to have worked with individuals of such 

character, strength, and intellect. Our Nation is grateful for 

their many contributions. And as they each will undoubtedly 

continue to contribute to our country’s greatness, their leadership and vision will be missed here in the U.S. Senate. 

Æ