Byron L. Dorgan 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA 

TRIBUTES

IN THE CONGRESS OF 

THE UNITED STATES 

UNUM

E PLURIBUS

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Byron L. Dorgan 

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U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 2012

S. DOC. 111–30 

Tributes

Delivered in Congress 

Byron L. Dorgan 

United States Congressman 

1981–1992

United States Senator 

1992–2011

÷ 

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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 ............................................................................. vii 

Proceedings in the Senate: 

Tributes by Senators: 

Akaka, Daniel K., of Hawaii ..................................................... 11 

Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee ............................................... 3 

Boxer, Barbara, of California .................................................... 22 

Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota ................................................. 5, 18 

Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut ....................................... 10 

Durbin, Richard, of Illinois ........................................................ 6, 10 

Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming ................................................... 13 

Harkin, Tom, of Iowa ................................................................. 14 

Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah ........................................................... 16 

Hutchison, Kay Bailey, of Texas ............................................... 23 

Kerry, John F., of Massachusetts ............................................. 17 

Levin, Carl, of Michigan ............................................................ 8 

Murkowski, Lisa, of Alaska ....................................................... 24 

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

Reid, Harry, of Nevada .............................................................. 4, 6 

Warner, Mark R., of Virginia .................................................... 5, 8 

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BIOGRAPHY

U.S. Senator BYRON DORGAN was raised in the southwestern North Dakota town of Regent, where his family 

worked in the farm equipment and petroleum business and 

raised cattle and horses. At age 26, he became North Dakota’s youngest-ever constitutional officer when he was appointed State tax commissioner. First elected to Congress in 

1980, BYRON DORGAN has devoted his career to fighting for 

the interests of rural America. 

Senator DORGAN served six terms in the U.S. House of 

Representatives and was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 

1992. He was a senior member of the Appropriations, Commerce, and Energy Committees. He also served as chairman 

of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the Senate 

Democratic Policy Committee. 

With his experience and ever-growing influence in Congress, Senator DORGAN worked to expand North Dakota’s 

burgeoning energy sector, preserve a strong safety net for 

family farmers, and spur economic development throughout 

the State. 

In 2002, he proposed the creation of a Red River Valley 

Research Corridor that would help attract research funding 

and high-tech companies to North Dakota. A 2006 North Dakota State University study found that the initiative created 

thousands of jobs and a $759 million economic impact, allowing the State’s college graduates to pursue careers close to 

home.

Senator DORGAN is a strong advocate of energy policy that 

will move our country aggressively toward the use of renewable energy and domestic energy sources, and away from our 

dangerous reliance on foreign oil. As chairman of the Senate 

Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, he worked 

to fund development of renewable energy sources like wind, 

solar, and biofuels, as well as clean coal research that will 

help us find better ways to use the resource that fulfill 50 

percent of our Nation’s energy needs. 

As a young boy in rural North Dakota, Senator DORGAN

was ingrained early in life with a deep appreciation for the 

family farmers and ranchers who rise before dawn every day 

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to put food on the tables of families around the world. He 

has emerged as one of the Nation’s leading voices on behalf 

of America’s agriculture industry. 

Senator DORGAN is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate 

Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling Out America, and

a newly released book Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, 

and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We 

Can Fix It!). 

He earned his bachelor of science degree from the University of North Dakota and his master of business administration from the University of Denver. 

Senator DORGAN is married to Kim Dorgan and has four 

children: Scott, Shelly (deceased), Brendon, and Haley. 

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Farewell to the Senate 

Thursday, December 9, 2010 

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, those of us who are leaving 

the Congress at the end of this year are given the opportunity to make a farewell speech. But more, it is an opportunity to say thank you to a lot of people to whom we owe 

a thank you, and to colleagues, to family, to the staff here 

in the Senate and our State staff, and the people of North 

Dakota, in this case, who gave me the opportunity to serve. 

It is the opportunity for me to say thank you. 

One of my colleagues the other day talked about the number of people who have served in the Senate. Since the beginning of our country, there have been 1,918 people who have 

served in the Senate. When I signed in, I signed on the line, 

and I was No. 1,802. There have been 212 Senators with 

whom I have served in the years I have been in the Senate. 

It is hard to get here and it is also hard to leave. But all of 

us do leave, and the Senate always continues. When finally 

you do leave, you understand this is the most unique legislative body in the world. 

I arrived 30 years ago in Congress, and when we all show 

up the first day, we feel so very important and we believe 

the weight of the world rests on our shoulders. Then we 

begin getting mail from home. 

I have long described a letter that was sort of leavening 

to me, sent to me by a schoolteacher early on after I arrived 

here. Her class was to do a project to write to Mr. DORGAN

in Washington, DC. I paged through the 20 letters from 

fourth grade students, and one of them said, ‘‘Dear Mr. DORGAN, I know who you are. I see you on television sometimes. 

My dad watches you on television too. Boy, does he get mad.’’ 

So I knew the interests of public service, of trying to satisfy all of the varied interests in our country. It is important, 

it seems to me, that we do the right thing as best we can 

and as best we see it. That dad from that letter showed up 

at a good many of my meetings over the years, I think. He 

didn’t introduce himself. But in most cases, the people I represented over these many years were ordinary folks who 

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loved their country, raised their families, paid their bills, and 

wanted us to do the right thing for our country’s future. 

I have a lot of really interesting memories from having 

served here, 12 years in the House and 18 years in the Senate. The first week I came to Washington, in the House, I 

stopped to see the oldest Member of the House, Claude Pepper. I had read so much about him, I wanted to meet him. 

I walked into his office, and his office was like a museum 

with a lot of old things in it, really interesting things. He 

had been here for a long time. I have never forgotten what 

I saw behind his chair—two photographs. The first photograph was of Orville and Wilbur Wright, December 17, 1903, 

making the first airplane flight, signed ‘‘to Congressman 

Claude Pepper with admiration, Orville Wright.’’ Beneath it 

was a photograph of Neil Armstrong stepping on the surface 

of the Moon, signed ‘‘to Congressman Pepper, with regards, 

Neil Armstrong.’’ I was thinking to myself, here is a living 

American and in one lifetime, he has an autographed picture 

of the first person who learned to fly and the first person 

who walked on the Moon. Think of the unbelievable progress 

in a lifetime. And what is the distance between learning to 

fly and flying to the Moon? It wasn’t measured on that wall 

in inches, although those photographs were only 4 or 5 

inches apart; it is measured in education, in knowledge, in 

a burst of accomplishments in an unprecedented century. 

This country has been enormously blessed during this period. The hallmark, it seems to me, of the century we just 

completed, was self-sacrifice and common purpose, a sense of 

community, commitment to country, and especially leadership. In America, leadership has been so important in this 

government we call self-government. 

There was a book written by David McCullough about 

John Adams, and John Adams described that question of 

leadership. He would travel in Europe representing this new 

country, and he would write letters back to Abigail. In his 

letters to Abigail, he would plaintively ask the question, 

‘‘Where will the leadership come from for this new country 

we are starting? Who will become the leaders? Who will be 

the leaders for this new nation?’’ 

In the next letter to Abigail, he would again ask, ‘‘Where 

will the leadership come from?’’ Then he would say, ‘‘There 

is only us. Really, there is only us. There is me, there is 

George Washington, there is Ben Franklin, there is Thomas 

Jefferson, there is Hamilton, Mason, and Madison. But there 

is only us,’’ he would plaintively say to Abigail. 

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In the rearview mirror of history, of course, the ‘‘only us’’ 

is some of the greatest human talent probably ever assembled. But it is interesting to me that every generation has 

asked the same question John Adams asked, ‘‘Where will the 

leadership come from for this country? Who will be the leaders?’’

The answer to that question now is here in this room. It 

has always been in this room—my colleagues, men and 

women, tested by the rigors of a campaign, chosen by citizens of their State who say, ‘‘You lead, you provide leadership for this country.’’ 

For all of the criticism about this Chamber and those who 

serve in this Chamber, for all of that criticism, I say that the 

most talented men and women with whom I have ever 

worked are the men and women of the Senate on both sides 

of this aisle. They live in glass houses. Their mistakes are 

obvious and painful. They fight, they disagree, then they 

agree. They dance around issues, posture, delay. But always 

there is that moment of being part of something big, consequential, important; the moment of being part of something bigger than yourself. At that moment, for all of us at 

different times, there is this acute awareness of why we were 

sent here and the role the Senate plays in the destiny of this 

country.

The Senate is often called the most exclusive club in the 

world, but I wonder, really, if it is so exclusive if someone 

from a town of 300 people and a high school senior class of 

9 students can travel from a desk in that small school to a 

desk on the floor of the Senate. I think it is more like a quilt 

work of all that is American, of all the experiences in our 

country. It allows someone from a small town with big ideas 

to sit in this Chamber among the desks that were occupied 

by Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Harry Truman, Lyndon 

Johnson, and so many more, and feel as if you belong. That 

is the genius of self-government. 

I announced about a year ago that I would not seek reelection after serving here 30 years, 12 in the House and 18 

years in the Senate. I am repeatedly asked, as is my colleague Senator Dodd, I am sure, who is leaving at the end 

of this year, ‘‘what is your most significant accomplishment?’’ 

While I am proud of so many things I have done legislatively, the answer is not legislative. I have always answered 

it by saying: 

Well, the first month I was here, 30 years ago next month, I stepped into 

an elevator on the ground floor of the Cannon Office Building of the U.S. 

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House of Representatives. That step into that elevator changed my life. 

There was a woman on that elevator, and between the ground floor and the 

fourth floor, I got her name. And that is a pretty significant accomplishment 

for a Lutheran Norwegian. This year, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. My life has been so enriched by my wife Kim and children, Scott 

and Shelly and Brendon and Haley; grandchildren Madison and Mason— 

they serve too. Families are committed too, to this life of public service, 

weekends alone, and I am forever grateful to the commitment and sacrifice 

of my family. 

I wish to say two things about some other people as well. 

First, there is our staff. All of us would probably say—but, 

of course, I say with much greater credibility—I have the finest staff in the U.S. Senate. I have been so enormously 

blessed. I am so proud of all of them. They are talented, they 

are dedicated to this country, and I have been blessed to 

work with them. In fact, I have worked with most of them 

for many years. 

Then I wish to say to the floor staff of the Senate that I 

come here, as do my colleagues, and we say our piece and 

we get involved in the debates, and the floor staff does such 

an unbelievable job. When we are done speaking, we often 

leave. They are still here. They are the ones who turn out 

the lights. They refrain from rolling their eyes when I know 

they want to during these debates. Boy, are they professional, and all of us owe them such a great debt of gratitude. 

To my colleagues, I kind of feel like Will Rogers: There is 

nobody in here I do not like. 

It is a great place with some terrific colleagues, especially 

Senator Kent Conrad. We have been friends for 40 years. For 

40 years we have been involved in the political fights and 

the political battles in North Dakota. He is a great Senator. 

I said last night at a reception, ‘‘He is the best Senator in 

the U.S. Senate come January.’’ But what I should just say 

right now is, he is an outstanding Senator and makes a 

great contribution to this body. Congressman Pomeroy, with 

whom I have served, the other part of Team North Dakota, 

three of us who worked together on campaigns 40 years ago, 

in North Dakota and who then for 18 years were the only 

three members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation. It 

has been a great pleasure. We will continue these friendships. But I say thanks to Senator Conrad especially for the 

work we have done together. 

Now, you know—and it shows—I love politics. I love public 

service, always have. John F. Kennedy used to say every 

mother kind of hopes her child might grow up to be President, as long as they do not have to be active in politics. But, 

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of course, politics is the way we make decisions about America. It is an honorable thing. I have always been enormously 

proud of being in politics. I have run 12 times in statewide 

elections since age 26. I have served continuously in statewide elective office since the age of 26—never outside of 

statewide elective office—for a long time, 40 years. It has 

been a great gift to me to be able to serve, and I am forever 

grateful to the people of North Dakota who have said to me, 

‘‘We want you to represent us.’’ 

Now it is time for me to do some other things that I have 

long wanted to do. That is why I chose not to seek reelection 

this year. 

Let me be clear to you. I did not decide not to run for the 

Senate because I am despondent about the state of affairs 

here. That is not the case. These are difficult and troubling 

times. But I did not decide not to run and to criticize this 

institution, although there is plenty of which to be critical. 

I do not want to add to the burdens of this institution. This 

institution is too important to the future of this country. 

I could talk, by the way, for hours about the joys of serving 

here with all of my colleagues. 

I was thinking about the late Ted Kennedy, when I was 

jotting a few notes, standing at his desk back in that row for 

many years. I know no one will mind me saying this: I think 

he is the best legislator I have ever seen in terms of getting 

things done. Ted Kennedy, full of passion, and on certain 

days when he was agitated and full-throated, you could hear 

him out on the street fighting and shouting for the things he 

knew were important for America. 

I think of Bob Dole who would saunter onto this floor, and 

he almost seemed to have an antenna that knew exactly 

what was going on, what the mood was, and what he could 

and could not do and how you must compromise at certain 

times. He had a knack like that, unlike any others I have 

seen.

I think of Strom Thurmond, who left us at age 101. If anybody could know his life story, what an unbelievable, courageous story. One of the things that I remember about Strom 

Thurmond is my involvement with legislation for organ 

transplantation to save people’s lives. I did a press conference on a bill I was introducing on organ transplants, and 

Strom Thurmond showed up. I think he was 90 years old. He 

signed an organ donor card. He said after he signed the 

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thing anybody wants, but if I am gone, they are welcome to 

it.’’

Robert C. Byrd, who sat where my colleague is sitting 

now—they do not make them like Robert C. Byrd anymore. 

I recall one day when another colleague was on the Senate 

floor, Robert C. Byrd got very angry about what the other 

colleague was saying. He believed it was disrespectful. So he 

rushed up to the Chamber, and the other colleague had left 

by that time. I do not know that our colleague ever understood what happened to him. But Senator Byrd, being very 

angry at what the other Senator had said, said simply this, 

‘‘I have been here long enough to watch pygmies strut like 

Colossus.’’ He said, ‘‘They, like the fly in ‘Aesop’s Fables,’ sitting on the axle of a chariot observe, my, what dust they do 

raise.’’ Then he sat down. And I thought, you know, they do 

not make Senators like that anymore. The Senator who left 

did not understand what Senator Byrd had just done, cutting 

him off at the knees. 

I take a treasury of memories. I should mention as well 

one of my best friends, Tom Daschle, who served here, a 

wonderful friend and a great leader for a long while as well. 

I just take a treasury of memories from this place. 

This place, however, has substantial burdens ahead of it, 

and will have to make good decisions, tough decisions, and 

exhibit the courage needed for the kind of future we want; 

we are going to have to put some sacrifice on the line for our 

country’s future. 

I want to talk for a bit about a couple of those issues. 

While there are always big issues, and I have always been 

interested in debating the big issues, my principal passion 

has been to support family farmers, small business folks, and 

the people who go to work every morning at a job. It is the 

family farmers out there who live on hope, plant a seed, and 

hope it grows, who risk everything. It is the Main Street 

business owner who this morning got up and turned the key 

in the front door and went in and waited because they have 

everything in their financial lives on the line, hoping their 

small business works. And it is the worker who goes to a job 

in the morning every day, and they are the ones who know 

‘‘seconds,’’ those workers at the bottom of the economic ladder. They know second shift, secondhand, second mortgage. 

They know it all. The question is, who speaks for them? The 

hallways outside the Chamber are not crowded with people 

saying, ‘‘Let me speak for those folks.’’ 

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In the first book I wrote, the first page, a book called Take

This Job and Ship It, about trade, I describe a story that 

was told about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s funeral. As they 

lined up in this Capitol to file past the casket of the deceased 

President, a journalist was trying to capture the mood of 

people who were waiting in line. He walked up to a man, a 

worker who was holding his cap in front of him, standing 

there with tears in his eyes, and the journalist said to this 

working man, ‘‘Well, did you know Franklin Delano Roosevelt?’’

The man said, ‘‘No, I didn’t. But he knew me.’’ 

The question is, it seems to me, for every generation in 

this Chamber, who knows American workers? Who stands up 

for the people who go to work every morning in this country? 

As I said, there are big issues that relate to workers and 

farmers and business people and others in this country. 

Let me just mention a couple. We know that for America 

to succeed we have to fix our schools. Thirty percent of the 

kids going to schools are not graduating. That cannot continue. We cannot have schools that are called dropout factories. We need the best schools in the world with the best 

teachers in the world if we are going to compete. We need 

substantial education reform. 

We also have to get rid of this crushing debt. We know we 

cannot borrow 40 percent of everything we spend. We know 

better than that. All of us know that. We have been on a 

binge, and it has to change. We cannot borrow money from 

China, for example, to give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Somehow we have to change all of these issues. It is 

time for this country to sober up in fiscal policy and leadership from this Chamber as well. 

We need a financial industry that stops gambling and 

starts lending, lending especially to those businesses that 

want to create jobs and want to expand. We need a fair trade 

policy that stands up for American workers for a change and 

promotes ‘‘made in America’’ again. We are not going to be 

a world economic power if we do not have world class manufacturing capability. It is dissipating before our eyes. This is 

all about creating good jobs and expanding opportunities in 

this country. It is not happening with our current trade policy. It is trading away America’s future, and we know better 

than that. 

On energy, we have ridden into a box canyon. Sixty percent of the oil we use comes from other countries, some of 

it from countries that do not like us very much. That holds 

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us hostage, and we cannot continue that. We need to produce 

more of all kinds of energy at home. We need to conserve 

more. We need more energy efficiency. We need to do all of 

these to promote stability and security in this country. 

Another issue that I have spent a lot of time working on 

deals with American Indians. They were here first. We are 

talking about the first Americans. They greeted all of us. 

They now live in Third World conditions in much of this 

country, and we have to do better. We have to keep our 

promises and we have to honor our treaties. In this Congress, I have had the privilege of chairing the Indian Affairs 

Committee. This Congress, however, as tough as it has been, 

has done more on Indian issues than in the previous 40 

years. We passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, 

the first time in 17 years. We passed the Tribal Law and 

Order Act that I and others helped write, which is so very 

important. We just passed yesterday the special diabetes 

provisions that are so important to the Indians. We put $2.5 

billion in the Economic Recovery Act to invest in health care 

facilities and education and the other things that are necessary in Indian country. 

We just passed the Cobell settlement which deals with a 

problem that has existed for 150 years in which looting and 

stealing from Indian trust accounts went on routinely. President Obama signed the bill last night at the White House. 

Those five things are the most important elements together that have been done in 40 years by a Congress dealing with Indian issues. But the work is not nearly over, and 

we have to keep our promises and honor our trust agreements.

We face some pretty big challenges. But the fact is, our 

grandparents and great-grandparents faced challenges that 

were much more significant and they prevailed. 

All of us in politics especially know the noise of democracy 

is unbelievable. It is relentless, incessantly negative, and it 

goes on 24/7. We have bloviaters all over the country who 

are trying to make sounds from the chest seem like important messages from their brain. They take almost everything 

they can find in any paper from any corner of this country 

that seems stupid and ugly and just way out of line, and 

they hold that up to the light on their program and they say, 

‘‘Isn’t this ugly?’’ 

Sure it is ugly, but it is not America. It is just some little 

obscene gesture somewhere in the corner of our country. It 

is not America. There is this old saying, ‘‘bad news travels 

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halfway around the world before good news gets its shoes 

on.’’ That is what is happening all the time. This country is 

full of good. It is full of good things, good people, and good 

news. Every day people go to work to build, create, and invent, and they hope the future will be better than the past. 

There was a book titled You Can’t Go Home Again by

Thomas Wolfe. He said there is a peculiar quality of the 

American soul that has an almost indestructible belief, a 

quenchless hope that things are going to be better, that 

something is going to turn up, that tomorrow is going to 

work out, and somehow that has been what has been the 

hallmark of American aspirations. 

When I graduated college with an MBA degree and got my 

first job in the aerospace industry at a very young age, the 

first program or project I worked on was called the Voyager 

Project. We were, with Martin-Marietta Corporation, building a landing vehicle for Mars. That was 40 years ago. That 

program was discontinued after about 4 years. 

But 5 years ago, the new program resulted in firing two 

missiles, two rockets from our country, 1 week apart. We 

aimed them at Mars. One week apart the rockets lifted off 

with a payload. When they landed, 200 million miles later, 

they landed 1 week apart on the surface of Mars. The payload had a shroud and it opened and a dune buggy drove off 

the shroud and started driving around on the surface of 

Mars. First one did, and then 1 week later the second arrived. They were named Spirit and Opportunity. Five years 

ago, we began driving Spirit and Opportunity on the surface 

of Mars. They were American vehicles. They were supposed 

to last for 90 days. We are still driving those dune buggies 

on the surface of Mars 5 years later. 

Spirit, very much like old men, got arthritis of the arm. So 

they say it hangs at kind of a permanent half salute. 

Spirit also has five wheels, and one wheel broke. So the 

wheel didn’t break off, but now it is digging a trench about 

2 inches deeper on the surface of Mars and the arthritic arm 

just barely gets there, but it does. It gets back to sample 

even a slightly bit deeper into the soil of Mars to tell us a 

little bit about what is going on. Spirit, by the way, also fell 

asleep about 1 year ago. They couldn’t reach it. It takes 9 

minutes to communicate electronically, by radio, with these 

dune buggies on Mars. So they sent a signal to a satellite we 

have circling Mars and had the satellite send a signal to 

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hicles are traveling on the surface of Mars driven by American genius. 

My point in all this is, first of all, they are very aptly 

named during challenging times—‘‘Spirit’’ and ‘‘Opportunity,’’ manufactured to last only 90 days but still driving 

around on the surface of Mars 5 years later. If American invention and American initiative can build rockets and dune 

buggies and drive them on the surface of Mars, surely we 

can fix the things that are important on planet Earth. I was 

going to say this isn’t rocket science, but I guess it is. 

This country is an unbelievable place. This is all a call to 

America’s future. Where we have been and what we have 

done, all these things together ought to inspire us that we 

can do so much more. 

George Bernard Shaw once said, ‘‘Life is no brief candle to 

me. It is a splendid torch which I am able to hold but for a 

moment.’’ This is our moment. This is it. 

About 15 years ago, I was leading a delegation of American Congressmen and Senators to meet with a group of European members of Parliament about our trade disputes. An 

hour into the meeting, the man who led the European delegation slid back in his chair, leaned across to me, and said: 

Mr. Senator, we have been speaking for an hour about how we disagree. 

I want to tell you something. I think you should know how I feel about your 

country. I was a 14-year-old boy on a street corner in Paris, France, when 

the U.S. liberation army marched down the Champs-Elyse ́es. An American 

soldier reached out his hand and gave me an apple as he marched past. I 

will go to my grave remembering that moment, what it meant to me, what 

it meant to my family, what it meant to my country. 

I sort of sat back in my chair, thinking, here is this guy 

telling me about who we are and where we have been and 

what we have meant to others. It was pretty unbelievable. 

Our problems are nothing compared to where we can go and 

what we can be as a country, if we just do the right thing. 

This Senate has a lot to offer the American people. I know 

its best days are ahead. That splendid torch, that moment, 

that is here. That torch exists in this Chamber as well. 

I feel unbelievably proud to have been able to serve here 

with these men and women for so long. I am going to go on 

to do other work. But I will always watch this Chamber and 

those who will continue to work here and do what is important for this country’s future. I will be among the cheerleaders who say, ‘‘Good for you. You know what is important, 

and you have steered America toward a better future.’’ 

I thank my colleagues. 

(Applause, Senators rising.) 

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TRIBUTES

TO

BYRON L. DORGAN 

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Proceedings in the Senate 

TUESDAY, November 30, 2010 

Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, 16 Senators will retire 

this year. There is a pretty big turnover in this body, but 

that is a lot of Senators at once. We are losing an enormous 

amount of talent, but, of course, we are gaining a lot of talent with the new Senators. 

I wish to show my respect for those who have served, 

which I will do in a summary fashion because we are talking 

about 16 individuals with very complex and distinguished 

backgrounds.

One might ask, what are the characteristics of a Senator? 

There are a lot of different answers to that, depending on 

your background and attitude toward politics and government. First, I have always thought that one characteristic of 

almost every Member of the Senate is that he or she probably was a first grader sitting in the front row, hand in the 

air waiting to be recognized. This is an eager bunch or you 

would not have gotten here. 

Second, it is a group of risk takers. Most people who end 

up in the Senate get here because a lot of other people who 

wanted to be Senators were standing around waiting for the 

right time to run. A lot of people who were elected to the 

Senate seemed to have no chance of winning at the time they 

decided to run, but the voters decided differently, and here 

they are. 

Third, we are almost all professional and congenial. That 

is a big help. It is almost a requirement in an organization 

of 100 individuals who spend almost all their time with one 

another, who serve in a body that operates by unanimous 

consent, when just one Senator can bring the whole place to 

a halt, and whose job basically is to argue about some of the 

most difficult issues that face the American people. So it 

helps that almost every Member of the Senate is an especially congenial person. 

Back in Tennessee, people often say to me it must be 

rough being in that job. They are awfully mean up there. 

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The truth is, I don’t know of a more congenial group than 

the Members of the Senate. We begin the day in the gym. 

The next thing you know we are at a Prayer Breakfast, and 

then we are at a committee hearing. Then we are on the 

floor voting, and then we have lunch. It goes through the day 

until 7 or 8 o’clock, or sometimes later. We live together and 

we get along very well. We know and respect each other. 

Not long ago, the Presiding Officer (Mr. Udall of New Mexico) and I were having dinner together with our wives. We 

were lamenting the loss of families who know one another, 

the way it happened when his father was serving in Congress and when I first came to the Senate to work for Senator Baker. And that’s true. We’ve lost some of that. Still, 

there is an enormous amount of affection and good will here. 

You don’t always get to be very close friends in this job, but 

you get to be very good acquaintances, and you learn to respect people for their strengths. 

Senator Domenici said, when he left, that we don’t do a 

very good job of saying goodbye here. That is true. As one 

part of saying goodbye, I wish to say at least one good thing 

about each one of the 16 retiring Senators. Much more could 

be said about each, of course. Mostly, I am going in alphabetical order. . . . 

Senator BYRON DORGAN. I once heard the Chaplain say 

there is no better storyteller in the Senate than Senator 

DORGAN. He didn’t mean making up stories. He said he was 

good at taking what he figured was the truth and explaining 

it in ways the rest of us could understand. I have enjoyed 

working with him on legislation that would make it easier to 

introduce electric cars and trucks in our country and reduce 

our dependence on foreign oil. . . . 

It has been my privilege to serve with these 16 Senators. 

We thank them for their service to our country. They have 

had a chance to serve in what we regard as the world’s 

greatest deliberative body; it is a special institution. We will 

miss their leadership, and we hope they will stay in touch 

with us because they are not just retiring Senators, they are 

all our friends. 

I yield the floor. 

WEDNESDAY, December 8, 2010 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 

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terials from the Congressional Record in tribute to retiring 

Members of the 111th Congress, and that Members have 

until Thursday, December 16, to submit such tributes. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

THURSDAY, December 9, 2010 

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we have just heard from 

Senator DORGAN (see farewell address, page vii), an extraordinary Senator and even more extraordinary as a friend. He 

has served in the Congress for 30 years. He has served in 

public office in my State for more than 40 years. It has been 

my privilege to call him my best friend for 42 years. We just 

heard the remarkable ability he has, a gift, to paint word 

pictures that communicate with people, that help us understand the consequences of the actions we take here. 

In recent weeks, I have become very interested in the universe and the vastness of what surrounds us. One of the 

things I have found most striking is that 1 light-year goes 

5.8 trillion miles, and the universe is 12–15 billion lightyears across. This is a vastness that is hard for us to calculate. Scientists tell us it all started with a big bang almost 

14 billion years ago. Now scientists are saying it may not 

just be one big bang but there is a cycle that takes place over 

1 trillion years that leads to repeated big bangs. BYRON DORGAN has been a big bang in the Senate. He has made a difference here. He has made an enormous difference in our 

home State of North Dakota. He helped build a foundation 

that has made North Dakota, today, the most successful 

State in the country—the lowest unemployment, the best financial situation, the fastest economic growth. BYRON DORGAN helped build a foundation that has transformed our 

State. We are forever in his debt. 

As his friend and colleague, we are forever grateful to the 

contributions he has made to North Dakota and to the Nation.

I thank the Chair and yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia. 

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I associate myself with the 

remarks of the Senator from North Dakota and add my voice 

as well to celebrate Senator DORGAN’s tenure in the Senate. 

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I wish he was going to stay. He has been someone about getting things done. As somebody who has sat in the presiding 

chair a number of times, I have heard Senator DORGAN.

Even when I don’t fully agree with him, no one is more persuasive in arguing his case. 

Mr. REID. BYRON DORGAN from North Dakota is such a 

fine person. He for many years has had the same job I had 

under Senator Daschle, the head of the Democratic Policy 

Committee, and he rendered valuable service to the caucus, 

to the Senate, and the whole country in his capacity there. 

We served together in the House of Representatives. We 

have traveled together. His wife Kim is such a fine human 

being. I am going to miss BYRON. He is and has been one of 

my close advisers, close friends. I hope I am not being boastful here, but I don’t think Tom Daschle had two better 

friends in the Senate than DORGAN and Reid. We were very 

close to him. We admired our friend Tom Daschle and did everything we could to make his life here as pleasant as possible.

As far as being a good speaker, BYRON DORGAN is very 

good. He has a unique way of communicating that very few 

people I have known have had. He is someone who, as far 

as the finances of this country and the world, is without peer 

as a legislator. He knows it all, and he has a way of articulating his views that is unique and I think very powerful. So 

I am going to miss BYRON DORGAN very much. He is a wonderful human being. I care a great deal about him. I have 

watched his son and daughter grow up. They are in college 

now. I remember them when they were little kids. In fact, 

my son Key, who was a fine athlete at the University of Virginia, when he was playing on those national champion soccer teams at the University of Virginia, gave BYRON’s son 

Brendon a few soccer lessons. So I am grateful for the friendship of Senator Bennett and Senator DORGAN.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I join my colleagues in honoring the service of Senator BYRON DORGAN. Over his nearly 

30 years in Congress, Senator DORGAN has been a strong 

and dedicated advocate for the people of the State of North 

Dakota.

Senator DORGAN’s long career in public service began in 

1969 when he was appointed North Dakota State tax commissioner. Assuming this position at the age of only 26, Senator DORGAN became the youngest constitutional officer in 

North Dakota’s history. 

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Since 1980, Senator DORGAN has been a voice for the people of North Dakota in Washington, DC. After serving six 

terms in the House of Representatives, he was first elected 

to the Senate in 1992. 

It is clear that Senator DORGAN’s upbringing in the small 

town of Regent, ND, has shaped his tenure in Congress. 

Throughout his years in Congress, Senator DORGAN has been 

a formidable advocate for rural America and the family 

farmers of his State. He led the effort to make permanent 

the Disaster Aid Program, which provides an essential safety 

net for farmers and ranchers affected by severe weather, in 

the 2008 farm bill. 

Senator DORGAN also has been a great advocate for North 

Dakota’s energy sector. As the country moves toward renewable and domestic energy sources, he has worked to put his 

State at the forefront of the industry. 

After so many years of public service for the people of 

North Dakota, Senator DORGAN’s time in the Senate is coming to a close. I am proud to have served with him, and I 

thank him for his service in the Senate. I wish Senator DORGAN and his family the best in the next chapters in their 

lives.

FRIDAY, December 10, 2010 

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 

our colleagues who are departing the Senate after distinguished service on behalf of their States and on behalf of 

the Nation. I have been privileged to work with these individuals, to learn from them, to collaborate and cooperate 

with them, and to, in some small way, help them do what 

they have done so well—represent their States with fidelity, 

with great effort, and to move the agenda of the Nation forward. . . . 

BYRON DORGAN was an integral part for many years in 

this Senate. He is one of those individuals whose wisdom you 

appreciate more and more each day. He is someone who 

spoke years ago about the offshoring of jobs, and he spoke 

years ago about a tax system that doesn’t reward investment 

in American jobs but ironically might encourage disinvestment of those jobs. He is someone who spoke with reason, 

candor, thoughtfulness, and facts about issues that the rest 

of us are beginning to recognize today are critical to the future of this country. 

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We will also miss his steady hand on the Appropriations 

Committee, where he battled to ensure that the reasonable 

priorities of this Nation were met. His support and help in 

terms of LIHEAP funding and his help to me personally in 

so many different ways is deeply appreciated. I thank him 

for his service. I know he will continue to provide, in his 

writings and speeches, the wise and thoughtful insights that, 

again, as we look back, I think we should have heeded with 

much more energy and enthusiasm when he spoke them. . . . 

To all of these colleagues and their families, my deepest 

appreciation and my profoundest respect. 

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise again to recognize the 

service of another great Federal employee. This is a tradition 

that was started by our friend and former colleague, Senator 

Kaufman, and I am proud to carry on that tradition. But I 

want to first say that I appreciate the remarks of the Presiding Officer (Mr. Reed) about our colleagues who are leaving this body, and I share his great respect for not only Senator Kaufman but all of the colleagues who are leaving the 

body at the end of this Congress. . . . 

WEDNESDAY, December 15, 2010 

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I have been honored for the 

past 18-plus years to serve alongside Senator BYRON DORGAN, who is preparing to leave the Senate after three distinguished terms. Senator DORGAN has been one of the most 

plain-spoken, energetic, and formidable forces in the U.S. 

Senate, and I will sorely miss his voice. 

Some might, at first, see relatively little in common between more urban, industrialized Michigan and more rural, 

agricultural North Dakota. But Senator DORGAN and I saw 

eye to eye on issue after issue—problems that needed to be 

tackled, outrages that needed to be exposed. 

One of those problems is tax abuse. Senator DORGAN has

been one of the Senate’s most stalwart and active opponents 

of tax cheats who rob the Treasury of billions of dollars each 

year, while unloading their tax burden onto the backs of honest taxpayers. He introduced legislation, commissioned key 

GAO reports, and fought long and hard against tax breaks 

that encourage U.S. companies to ship jobs offshore, set up 

factories in other countries, and use phony offshore companies to dodge taxes. I remember one floor fight last year in 

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which he led a successful effort to stop legislation that would 

have opened the floodgates to billions of dollars that U.S. 

companies had hoarded offshore and wanted to bring back 

home without paying the same tax rate as their competitors. 

I remember battles we fought to stop so-called ‘‘inverted’’ corporations—companies that pretend to move their headquarters offshore as a method of dodging U.S. taxes—from 

participating in Federal contracts. I remember joining with 

him to request data exposing how U.S. companies have 

stopped bearing their share of the tax burden. I am going to 

miss his iron will and sharp wit in the ongoing battles to 

combat tax abuse. 

Senator DORGAN has also been an articulate and strenuous 

defender of American workers, benefiting working families 

not only in North Dakota and Michigan, but across the Nation. For years, he has fought for fair trade policies, insisting 

trade partners like South Korea and Japan, that export millions of autos to the United States, open their doors to U.S.- 

made autos. There may be no major auto factories in Senator 

DORGAN’s home State, but that did not prevent him from exposing the hypocrisy and injustice of unequal market access 

and demanding change. I will miss his voice in the ongoing 

battles to pry open markets now shut to American goods. 

Senator DORGAN also fought for American working families when he helped author the Creating American Jobs and 

Ending Offshoring Act, a bill that sought to end the tax benefits given to employers that send jobs overseas, and instead 

reward the companies that invest in the United States. I am 

hopeful that the Senate may yet see the wisdom of his legislation and enact it into law. Senator DORGAN literally wrote 

the book on how corporate interests and political shortsightedness are hurting U.S. workers and the U.S. economy, 

and the Nation will continue to benefit from his work on this 

issue even after he has left the Senate. 

Similarly, as cochair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Senator DORGAN has done much to shed 

light on human rights abuses in China and to illustrate how 

China has often failed to make good on its World Trade Organization commitments. I am a member of the commission, 

and my brother is Senator DORGAN’s cochair, and we have 

both enjoyed the privilege of working with him in that 

forum.

Finally, Senator DORGAN has been an essential voice in 

the Senate on reining in the excesses of Wall Street. As 

chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, 

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which conducted a 2-year investigation into the financial crisis, I know personally how diligent, informed, and intense 

his efforts were to restore sanity to the U.S. financial system. He took it upon himself to organize Senators into a 

force for change and reform. When lobbyists claimed banks 

were the victims rather than the perpetrators of the crisis, 

that their executives had done nothing wrong, and their multimillion dollar paychecks were justified, Senator DORGAN

dug into the facts, educated himself on the most esoteric financial engineering, and took on the special interests. For 

example, he crafted an amendment to the Wall Street reform 

legislation to ban ‘‘naked’’ credit default swaps and worked 

with me to add my amendment banning synthetic assetbacked securities. Our joint amendment was unsuccessful, 

but time will show those types of high-risk, empty bets do 

nothing to advance the real economy and much to direct dollars into the mindless casino that plagued the U.S. financial 

system.

I will sorely miss Senator DORGAN’s insight and determination in the ongoing battles to rein in Wall Street excess. 

The people of North Dakota are rightly proud of Senator 

DORGAN. He is a fighter, and he never stopped fighting for 

them. They have benefited greatly from Senator BYRON DORGAN’s service. The people of our Nation have benefited. I 

know the working families of my State have benefited. I 

want to thank him for his service, for his energy, for his diligence, for his tenacity, and for his friendship. On a personal 

level, Barbara and I wish him and Kim and their family the 

best as they embark on this new path together. 

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 

that the order for the printing of tributes be modified to provide that Members have until sine die of the 111th Congress, 

2d session, to submit tributes and that the order for printing 

remain in effect. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

THURSDAY, December 16, 2010 

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 

longtime colleague and friend of mine, Senator BYRON DORGAN who will be retiring from the U.S. Senate when the 

112th Congress convenes in January. I would like to take 

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this moment to thank BYRON for his service, and wish him, 

his wife, Kim, and the rest of his wonderful family the very 

best as they embark on this new chapter in their lives. 

BYRON has dedicated the better part of his adult life to 

serving the people of his State. When he was just 26 years 

old, BYRON became the youngest constitutional officer in 

North Dakota history when he was appointed to serve as the 

State’s tax commissioner. In 1980, BYRON once again demonstrated his commitment to public service when he was 

elected to the State’s lone House seat. Twelve years later, 

after six terms in the House, the people of North Dakota 

once again returned BYRON to Washington, this time as their 

U.S. Senator. 

Throughout his career in public service, BYRON has been 

particularly vocal on issues related to U.S. agricultural policy. As a young man growing up in the small town of Regent, 

ND, BYRON developed a strong appreciation for American 

farmers and ranchers and the important work they do to 

keep our country fed. Indeed, BYRON’s own family worked in 

the farm equipment business and raised cattle and horses. 

As a result, he has been a consistent advocate for greater 

economic security and opportunity in rural America. 

Since 1999, BYRON has also chaired the Senate Democratic 

Policy Committee, where he has played an important role in 

helping to craft the Senate Democratic policy agenda over 

the last several years. But after BYRON leaves the Senate in 

just a few short weeks, I believe he will be remembered as 

a public servant who was devoted first and foremost to advancing the interests of the people of his beloved home State, 

North Dakota. 

Once again, I would like to thank BYRON for his many 

years of service, and wish him well as he leaves the Senate. 

It has truly been a pleasure working with him over the 

years, and I firmly believe that this body will not be the 

same without him. 

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

a number of our friends and colleagues who are ending their 

service in the Senate. Their contributions are too numerous 

to mention, therefore I would like to take just a few minutes 

to highlight some of the memories of the Senators I came to 

know personally. 

Some of the departing Senators I have served with for decades. Others were here for only part of a term. All of them 

worked hard for their constituents and our country. . . . 

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It has been a pleasure to serve with Senator BYRON DORGAN of North Dakota, and I will miss him greatly. I have had 

the honor to work alongside Senator DORGAN on two committees of great importance to both of our States, the Committee 

on Indian Affairs and the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources.

Senator DORGAN and I served on the Senate Committee on 

Indian Affairs together beginning in the 104th Congress. 

During his tenure as chairman during the last 4 years, I saw 

first hand the leadership skills and compassion he possesses. 

Chairman DORGAN has shown his dedication to all of our Nation’s indigenous people: American Indians, Alaska Natives, 

and Native Hawaiians. Thank you Senator DORGAN for your 

efforts to improve the quality of life for America’s native people.

I am grateful that Chairman DORGAN has been a strong 

ally to Hawaii’s indigenous people, the Native Hawaiian people. He has stood with Senator Daniel Inouye and me as we 

have worked to have the United States fulfill its obligations 

to all of its Native people, including Native Hawaiians. 

Mahalo, Chairman DORGAN, for your aloha to the people of 

Hawaii.

Senator DORGAN is a great statesman and a gentleman 

who has served the people of North Dakota in the U.S. Congress for three decades. During our combined service on the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, I repeatedly 

saw Senator DORGAN’s passion for the people of North Dakota as he worked to make his State a pioneer in renewable 

energy efforts. For those of us who serve in the Senate, we 

work tirelessly to advance the needs of not only our home 

States, but the whole Nation. Senator DORGAN has proven 

himself both a great North Dakotan and a great American. 

The Senate will be a much different place without his leadership, and I know that I am joined by many of my colleagues in wishing him many successes in the future. Many 

of my constituents in Hawaii will miss his leadership just as 

his own constituents in North Dakota will. 

Mahalo for your friendship and for your service to our Nation. On behalf of Millie and our family, I send our aloha to

you and Kim and your family. We wish you the best as you 

begin a new chapter in your lives. . . . 

In closing, the end of this Congress is bittersweet, with so 

many talented and dedicated public servants leaving this institution. All of them made a lasting impact on the Senate 

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and on our country. Mahalo nui loa, thank you, for all your 

work.

FRIDAY, December 17, 2010 

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, at the end of each session of 

Congress it has long been a tradition in the Senate to take 

a moment to express our appreciation and say goodbye to 

those who will not be returning in January for the beginning 

of the next Congress. One of those I know I will miss who 

will be heading home to North Dakota to begin the next 

chapter of his life is BYRON DORGAN.

BYRON was raised in the ranching and wheat growing region of North Dakota in the town of Regent. Looking back, 

he has often said that he graduated in the top 10 of his high 

school class. ‘‘There were nine of us,’’ he then adds with a 

smile.

Growing up in a community that was so heavily involved 

in agriculture gave him an early taste of what rural life is 

all about. He experienced first hand the importance of farming to his home State and the hard work associated with taking good care of the land and the resources it provides. He 

saw the way people who live on farms schedule their days— 

working from sunrise to sunset, going from task to task 

knowing there was always more work to be done than there 

were hours in the day. It was a lesson about the true meaning of hard work that would stay with him throughout his 

life and help direct his efforts and his service in the Senate. 

One issue we shared an interest in and worked together 

on for years has been sales tax fairness. BYRON took his experience as a former tax administrator and I used my background as an accountant to focus our work on the issue. 

BYRON’s understanding of our tax system and how it must 

work efficiently to provide the government with the resources that are needed to fund its operations was very impressive. That should come as no surprise to anyone since he 

had been appointed the tax commissioner of North Dakota at 

the age of 26, which made him the youngest constitutional 

officer in the State’s history. 

We also worked together on the Freedom to Travel to Cuba 

Act. We hope to change our current policies there because for 

40 years they have failed to bring about the results we hope 

to achieve. It was clear to us both that if we wanted to bring 

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ed to achieve, we had to find another way to do it. Fortunately, BYRON’s leadership style and his speaking ability 

were again a great addition to the effort and helped to win 

us the support we needed to get things rolling. 

Looking back on these and other issues, it is clear that 

BYRON’s career has been guided by the lessons he learned as 

he was growing up about the importance of hard work and 

always giving your best to the task at hand every day. That 

is why you will always find him fighting for the needs of 

rural America and promoting a sense of fairness and equity 

in our tax system. There can be little doubt that he has accomplished a great deal during his service in the Senate. He 

has been a champion for rural America, and farmers and 

ranchers not only in North Dakota but all across the country 

have been grateful for his efforts and the results he has been 

able to achieve. 

I don’t know what BYRON has planned as he begins the 

next chapter of his life, but I am certain we have not heard 

the last from him and his wife Kim. They have been a team 

over the years as they have worked together for the people 

of North Dakota. They have made a difference, and they 

have a great deal to show for their efforts. 

In the coming session, I know we will all miss BYRON’s effective way of speaking and addressing the concerns of the 

people of his State. He has a great sense of humor, and his 

ability to present the case for ‘‘his side’’ has won many an 

argument—some of them before they had even begun. 

Good luck, BYRON. Keep in touch. We will always be 

pleased to hear from you. 

SATURDAY, December 18, 2010 

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, with the close of the 111th 

Congress, the Senate will lose one of its most popular, articulate, and outspoken Members. I will lose a kindred spirit and 

a fellow progressive populist, BYRON DORGAN, who has spent 

his entire four decades in elected office fighting on behalf of 

family farmers and ranchers, struggling small businesses, ordinary working Americans, and anyone who has been run 

roughshod over by big business, big banks, or big government.

Both Senator DORGAN and I are proud of our roots in the 

rural Upper Midwest. I was raised in Cumming, IA, population 162. He was raised in Regent, ND, population 211. 

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BYRON always liked to joke that he graduated in the top 10 

of his class of 9 students. 

Senators on both sides of the aisle have come to respect 

and admire Senator DORGAN’s distinctive voice here in the 

Senate, a voice that mixes keen intelligence with a great 

sense of humor, plus a gift for making his arguments with 

colorful, compelling stories and language. Throughout his 

more than four decades in public service, he has used that 

voice to speak out powerfully for farm country in rural America. He has fought hard for policies at the national level to 

give rural families a better chance at success. He has been 

a strong supporter of the farm bill’s safety net provisions, including countercyclical support for farmers to get them 

through hard times, and he has been equally outspoken in 

championing strict limits on Federal farm payments to ensure that the lion’s share goes to small family farms, not big 

agribusiness and absentee farm owners. 

As a senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources 

Committee and chair of the Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, Senator DORGAN has always been an outspoken champion of clean, renewable, homegrown energy, including wind and solar and 

biofuels. He likes to boast that North Dakota is ‘‘the Saudi 

Arabia of wind.’’ Well, my folks in Iowa might dispute that 

claim, but we get the point. BYRON and I have both been 

strong advocates of building a nationwide distribution grid 

for wind- and solar-generated energy. 

I wish to make just one more point about Senator DORGAN.

I guess I can say this now since he is retiring and a political 

opponent won’t be able to use it against him. BYRON DORGAN

is an intellectual. He has a passion for ideas and knowledge. 

He even writes books—actually, really good books, the kind 

that show up on the New York Times bestseller list. I am a 

great fan of his 2007 book entitled Take This Job and Ship 

It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling 

Out America. If you want a blistering and I think dead-on 

account of the causes of the crash of 2008, read BYRON’s

other book entitled Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and 

Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America.

I consider BYRON DORGAN a great friend, a great Senator, 

and a great advocate for all working people in this country. 

He has accomplished many things in his three terms here in 

the Senate, but I can think of no greater accolade than to 

say simply that he is a good and decent and honest person 

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with a passion for social justice and a determination to make 

life better for ordinary Americans. 

When the 111th Congress comes to a close, of course, my 

friendship with BYRON will continue, but I will miss his dayto-day counsel and good humor. I join with the entire Senate 

family in wishing BYRON and Kim the best in the years 

ahead.

SUNDAY, December 19, 2010 

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the 

departure of the junior Senator from North Dakota. Senator 

BYRON DORGAN, a devoted public servant who has spent 

most of his life serving the good people of North Dakota, will 

be leaving the Senate at the close of this session. He will certainly be missed. 

Senator DORGAN was born in Dickinson, ND, in 1942 and 

was raised in Regent, ND. His family worked in the petroleum and farm equipment business and they also raised 

horses and cattle. BYRON attended college at the University 

of North Dakota and graduate school at the University of 

Denver. He began his career in public service at the young 

age of 26, when he was appointed to be the North Dakota 

State tax commissioner. He was the youngest constitutional 

officer in the history of North Dakota. 

Senator DORGAN came to Washington, DC, in 1980 when 

he was elected to serve in the House of Representatives. He 

served six terms in the House before coming to the Senate 

in 1992. For three full terms, he has ably and energetically 

represented his native State. During his time here, he has 

been a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, 

chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, and, of course, 

chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee. The people of 

North Dakota have benefited from his efforts on those committees and, I think he would be the first to tell you, that 

his home State has never been far from his thoughts here in 

the Senate. 

While Senator DORGAN and I have, more often than not, 

disagreed on the issues, he has always been sincere in his 

belief that what he was doing was in the best interest of our 

country. Such commitment to principle has to be admired, 

even if, in the end, you disagree with the conclusion that is 

reached. I should note that there have been times, actually 

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ferently than the majority of his party. In the Senate, which, 

of late, has been highly polarized and extremely partisan, 

going against the grain takes courage and independence, 

qualities I have admired in Senator DORGAN.

Senator DORGAN is a good man. I want to wish him, his 

wife Kim, and their family the very best of luck. 

MONDAY, December 20, 2010 

Mr. KERRY. I know the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. 

Thune) is here. I know he wishes to speak. I will not be long. 

I wish to take advantage of this moment with the Senator 

from North Dakota (Mr. DORGAN) on the floor to say a couple 

of things. 

First of all, I am very grateful to him personally for the 

comments he has made about both my efforts and the efforts 

of Senator Lugar. I appreciate them enormously. But more 

important, the Senator is going to be leaving the Senate at 

the end of this session. I wish to say there are few Senators 

who combine as many qualities of ability as does the Senator 

from North Dakota. He is one of the most articulate Members of the Senate. He is one of the most diligent Members 

of the Senate. He is one of the most thoughtful Members of 

the Senate. 

I have had the pleasure of serving with him on the Commerce Committee. I have seen how creative and determined 

he is with respect to the interests of consumers on Internet 

issues, on fairness issues, consumer issues in which he has 

taken an enormous interest. He has been head of the policy 

committee for I think almost 10 years or so. He has been responsible for making sure the rest of us are informed on 

issues. He has kept us up to date on the latest thinking. He 

has put together very provocative weekly meetings with 

some of the best minds in the country so we think about 

these things. 

I wanted to say to the Senator from North Dakota personally through the Chair how well served I think the citizens 

of North Dakota have been, how grateful we are for his service, and how extraordinarily lucky we have been to have 

someone representing 1 of the great 50 States as effectively 

as he has. I think he has been a superb Senator, and he will 

be much missed here. 

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WEDNESDAY, December 22, 2010 

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 

my colleague, Senator BYRON DORGAN. This is his last day 

voting in the Senate. He is retiring after serving the people 

of North Dakota in the Congress, the House, and Senate, for 

30 years. But BYRON’s record in North Dakota goes even beyond that—another 12 years in State office, so a total of 42 

years of serving the people of North Dakota. 

I want to first say I am not objective when it comes to 

BYRON DORGAN because he is my best friend. We have been 

friends and allies for all of those 42 years. In 1968 I was 

running a campaign to lower the voting age in North Dakota 

and first met BYRON DORGAN, a young tax commissioner— 

very young, in his twenties, appointed after the previous tax 

commissioner took his life. BYRON had extraordinary responsibility thrust on him at a very young age, the youngest 

statewide official in our State’s history. BYRON disposed of 

those responsibilities with real distinction, becoming recognized as the most influential State leader, even more influential than the Governor of the State, by a major publication 

in North Dakota. 

I met BYRON DORGAN in that year and was so struck by 

his ability, his charisma, and his vision for our State and our 

Nation that I thought: This is somebody I want to work with 

in my career. 

We started a friendship that has lasted to this day. In 

1970 I was helping run the reelection campaign of Senator 

Quentin Burdick, who served in this Chamber for more than 

30 years. I got to know BYRON even better then. In fact, my 

wife and I spent time with him and his wife. In the years 

that followed we became very close friends. In 1974, when I 

got back from business school, BYRON called me and asked 

me to come to his office. I did the day after I returned home. 

We took a walk around the Capitol Grounds of the State of 

North Dakota and he talked to me about what he saw as the 

future—the future of our State, things that were happening 

in the country that needed to be addressed, and how the two 

of us might, working together, change that future and make 

a difference. 

I agreed that day to be his campaign manager for the 

House of Representatives. In that campaign, Earl Pomeroy, 

now North Dakota’s lone Congressman, was the driver. I was 

the campaign manager. BYRON is always quick to point out 

it was the only election he ever lost. He always said it was 

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the fault of the campaign manager. I always said it was the 

fault of the driver. And Earl always believed we would have 

won if only he had been the candidate. 

Those were incredible days. I remember so well that campaign, the three of us—we bonded in a way that I think is 

very rare in politics and served together in a way that is unusual. There was never the kind of competition that often exists between Members. But there was always a keen friendship and a real partnership. We were allies, fighting for 

North Dakota, fighting to change the country, deeply committed to each other and to our State. 

After that campaign BYRON asked me to be his assistant. 

Weeks later he hired Lucy Calautti. Lucy, years later, became my wife, so I have always credited BYRON with bringing us together. We were also joined by my college roommate 

who became another assistant to then tax commissioner 

BYRON DORGAN, a young man named Jim Lang, a very dear 

friend of mine, an absolute genius, and the four of us worked 

to build the Democratic Party in North Dakota and to 

change the political landscape. 

Those were incredible times. We fought great battles for a 

coal severance tax in North Dakota, for an oil severance tax, 

things that helped build the financial base for our State. 

In 1980, BYRON announced that he would seek North Dakota’s lone seat in the House of Representatives. I ran to 

succeed him as tax commissioner. Lucy, who by then was 

somebody for whom I had great respect, was his campaign 

manager in that race for the House of Representatives. 

BYRON was successful, and I was successful in a year in 

which no other Democrats were successful in our State. 

We then had a period of time, 6 years, before the Senate 

race in which BYRON was in Washington, I was in North Dakota, and we campaigned together day after day, weekend 

after weekend, month after month, all across North Dakota, 

building a movement, a movement that resulted in my running for the Senate in 1986. 

It was really BYRON’s turn. He could have chosen to run, 

but he decided not to, and so I did, in a race that many 

thought was impossible for me to win. I started out more 

than 30 points behind the incumbent. He had over $1 million 

in the bank. When I got into the race, I think I had $126. 

But BYRON DORGAN was my ally in that race every step of 

the way. I think very few others would have done what he 

did for me. I think very few other Members of the House of 

Representatives, having someone else leapfrog them to come 

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to the Senate, would have put themselves on the line as 

much as BYRON DORGAN did for me in that Senate race in 

1986. But he was with me in every corner of the State fighting tooth and nail, an uphill battle in which, as I said, I 

started out 38 points behind. 

But on election day, I won a very narrow victory, winning 

by about 2,000 votes over an incumbent who had won his 

previous race with over 70 percent of the vote and a man 

who really looked like a U.S. Senator, Mark Andrews—6 feet 

5 inches, booming voice, white mane of hair, very powerful 

speaker. Yet I was able to win that race in a squeaker, and 

I never could have without BYRON’s extraordinary assistance 

and support. 

For a period of time that I was in the Senate, he was in 

the House, and then in 1992 I announced I would not seek 

reelection to my seat because I made a pledge in that 1986 

campaign, and the pledge I made was that I would not run 

for reelection unless the deficit was dramatically reduced. If 

you have reviewed 1992, you know the deficit was at a 

record level. After the first Bush administration, deficits 

were at record levels. So I announced I would not seek reelection, in keeping with my pledge. BYRON DORGAN announced for my seat, and there was Lucy helping to run 

BYRON’s campaign for what was my seat in the Senate—a remarkable time in our lives. 

Then later that year, Senator Burdick, the other Senator 

from North Dakota, died. The Governor called me and said: 

Kent, you have to run to fill out the 2 years of his term; otherwise, North 

Dakota is going to lose all its seniority in one fell swoop, lose all of Senator 

Burdick’s more than 30 years of seniority. We are going to lose BYRON’s 12 

years of seniority in the House because he is running for your seat in the 

Senate, and we will lose your 6 years of seniority if you do not run to fill 

the term of Senator Burdick. 

I have always remembered that the media in North Dakota took a poll on whether I should run to fill the 2 years 

of Senator Burdick’s term, and even an overwhelming majority of Republicans thought I should run. So the Governor 

told me there would be a special election after the regular 

elections in November. He said, ‘‘Look, you have kept your 

pledge. You did not run for reelection to your seat. BYRON is

running for election to your seat. You would be in a special 

election in December.’’ 

So I agreed to run, and BYRON and I were running simultaneous campaigns for the Senate in 1992, he for my seat in 

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tion in December. Once again, we crisscrossed North Dakota 

campaigning together, making our case, and both of us won 

very big victories in 1992. 

From that time period forward until today, BYRON and I 

have served together representing the State of North Dakota—best friends. What a remarkable story. 

I can still remember one of the publications here on the 

Hill—I can’t remember if it was The Hill or Roll Call—when

the two Senators from Mississippi were fighting for the majority leader position, ran a cartoon that said: ‘‘Why can’t the 

two Senators from Mississippi be more like the Senators 

from North Dakota—friends forever.’’ And BYRON and I have 

been friends forever and will be friends forever. 

After the 1992 race, we both served North Dakota, and, 

unlike so many delegations, we did everything we could to 

support each other. I can’t think of a time when there were 

ever angry words exchanged between BYRON DORGAN and

Earl Pomeroy and myself. It was what many people back 

home called Team North Dakota. And we have been a team, 

as close as you could be. 

During BYRON’s time in the Senate, he has been a fierce 

fighter for policies that benefit average people and also somebody very suspicious of corporate power. He passionately opposed what he thought were misguided trade policies that 

contributed to jobs moving overseas. He was one of a handful 

of Senators who warned against consolidation and the excessive risk that would result from repealing the barriers between commercial and investment banking. He warned at 

the time, in what has become a famous speech, that if we 

passed that legislation, we would face a financial crisis in 

the years ahead. That prediction looks prescient today in 

light of the financial collapse of 2008. He was a leader in 

fighting for farm policies to benefit family farmers and ranch 

families rather than corporate agriculture. In the midst of it 

all, he wrote two books: Take This Job and Ship It and Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America.

Most important, BYRON DORGAN had a vision, an energy, 

and a persistence that has played a huge role in building the 

prosperity of our State. 

Robert Kennedy once said: ‘‘There are those that look at 

things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things 

that never were, and ask why not?’’ That is really the way 

BYRON approached service to North Dakota. He did not see 

limits; he saw opportunity. 

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He looked at our university system and technology industries and saw no reason they could not be built into the Red 

River Valley Research Corridor that could power the economy of eastern North Dakota. He set about making it happen, and he has succeeded. 

He looked at our energy industry and saw no reason North 

Dakota could not be the energy powerhouse for the Nation. 

Through his position on the Energy Committee and the Energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations, he helped 

build North Dakota into one of the leading energy-producing 

States in the Nation. 

He looked at the growth of the knowledge industries and 

the Internet and saw no reason North Dakota could not be 

wired with the same 21st-century telecommunications infrastructure as the rest of the country. He used his position on 

the Commerce Committee to get that done as well. 

The results of his work can be seen in every corner of our 

State. Modern highways and air terminals, new and improved water infrastructure, a booming energy and agricultural economy, high-tech companies springing up everywhere 

across our State, the strongest economic growth in the Nation, the lowest unemployment rate in the Nation—by any 

measure, North Dakota is doing very well. Most of that, 

BYRON will tell you, is because of the hard work and good 

judgment of the people of North Dakota. But among them, 

no one has worked harder or smarter on behalf of North Dakota than Senator BYRON DORGAN.

Let me close by saying that I do not know of a harder 

working or more productive person than BYRON DORGAN. He 

produces extraordinary amounts of high-quality work. He is 

type A squared, but he never forgot his roots. 

BYRON DORGAN grew up in Regent, ND, a town of 300. He 

often reminds us that he graduated in a class of 9 and he 

was in the top 10. He is proud of that background, he is 

proud of that heritage, he is proud of our State, he is proud 

of our Nation, and we are proud of him. 

I will miss BYRON DORGAN’s partnership here every day, 

but I know he will be with us because BYRON DORGAN will

never be far from the fray. BYRON DORGAN has served this 

body well, served the Nation well, and served our State extraordinarily well. 

I yield the floor. 

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 

my colleague and friend, Senator BYRON DORGAN.

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It has been an honor to serve with Senator DORGAN since

he and I were both elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. 

Nobody can get to the heart of a matter like BYRON DORGAN. He has an unbelievable ability to lay out both challenges and solutions with clarity. He is a populist in the best 

sense of the word, and our country is better for his service 

in this Chamber. 

Senator DORGAN has always been a champion for the people of North Dakota, for our workers, and for rural Americans. For the last 18 years, he has devoted himself to supporting family farms and promoting economic development 

across our country. 

Senator DORGAN has been a leader in the Senate in fighting to preserve jobs here in America and end tax breaks for 

companies that ship jobs overseas. No one has fought harder 

for the middle class. 

He used his position as chairman of the Senate Energy 

and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to advance important projects and create jobs, and I will always be thankful 

for his support in our efforts to protect California communities from flooding. 

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, 

Senator DORGAN has worked tirelessly to improve health 

care and economic opportunities for Indians. He has helped 

streamline the bureaucracy of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

He developed the landmark Tribal Law and Order Act, 

which helped give tribal justice officials the tools they need 

to protect their communities. I was so proud to cosponsor 

that bill and so pleased that President Obama signed it into 

law this year. 

He leaves a distinguished legacy and will be greatly 

missed by all of us. 

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I would like to take a 

few minutes to pay tribute to the 16 Senators who will be 

departing this body at the end of the year. 

I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve 

alongside each of these Senators as colleagues and as 

friends. All served their States with distinction and gave 

their constituents strong voices in the world’s greatest deliberative body. Senators Evan Bayh, Robert Bennett, Kit 

Bond, Sam Brownback, Jim Bunning, Roland Burris, Chris 

Dodd, BYRON DORGAN, Russ Feingold, Carte Goodwin, Judd 

Gregg, Ted Kaufman, George LeMieux, Blanche Lincoln, 

Arlen Specter, and George Voinovich—each left an indelible 

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mark on the Senate, and I wish them well as they take on 

new challenges and opportunities into the future. 

I would like to speak briefly about a few of the Senators 

I knew best and served with in committees to recognize their 

contributions and accomplishments and share my fond 

memories of them and the legacies they will leave behind. . . . 

Today we say goodbye to Senator BYRON DORGAN after 18 

years in the Senate, serving the State of North Dakota. 

First elected to Congress in 1980, DORGAN has devoted his 

career to serving North Dakota and fighting for the interests 

of rural America. 

After serving six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, BYRON was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. 

I have had the pleasure to serve with Senator DORGAN on

the Senate Commerce Committee. Last summer, we joined 

together with several of our colleagues in the Senate to introduce bipartisan legislation that reauthorized the Federal 

Aviation Administration, FAA. 

The legislation accelerated the modernization of the Nation’s air traffic control, ATC system, addressed critical safety concerns in the national airspace system, NAS, and improved rural community access to air service. 

I appreciated BYRON’s willingness to champion good ideas 

put forward by Members from either side of the aisle. By focusing on issues where consensus could be achieved, he 

helped to move the debate forward on important issues and 

solve problems. 

Senator DORGAN leaves the Senate with my best wishes 

and respect. . . . 

In conclusion, the departing Senators’ contributions, their 

dedicated service, and the issues they championed will be remembered long after their final days in the Senate. 

I believe I can speak for my fellow Senators when I say 

that we will all miss our departing friends. 

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, when the 111th Congress draws to a close, we will bid farewell to 16 colleagues 

who have collectively given more than 200 years of service 

to our Nation through their service in the Senate. These include seven of the Senate’s most experienced Members. People like Chris Dodd and Arlen Specter who have each served 

five terms in the Senate. Kit Bond who has served four 

terms and Bob Bennett, BYRON DORGAN, Russ Feingold, and 

Judd Gregg, who have each served three terms in this 

Chamber. . . . 

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I would like to say a few words about my friend BYRON

DORGAN. In 2007, following the sudden and unexpected 

death of our friend and colleague Craig Thomas, I was elevated to vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Senator DORGAN was the chairman of that committee. 

Last week both of us had the honor of addressing the National Congress of American Indians at one of the meetings 

that preceded President Obama’s tribal summit. Each of us 

reflected on the fact that the committee has been highly productive during the period we shared the gavel. During our 

time together the committee laid the groundwork for reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, 

more than a decade in the making. We reauthorized the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination 

Act; we pursued a settlement of the Cobell litigation; and we 

crafted and introduced the Tribal Law and Order Act, which 

President Obama signed into law earlier this year. Senator 

DORGAN has consistently championed adequate funding for 

the Indian Health Service and he has come to the floor on 

many occasions to speak to the unacceptable rates of suicide 

among Native youth. I am pleased to know that he will continue this work after he leaves the Senate. It comes from the 

heart. . . . 

It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve with each of 

the people who will leave this Chamber when we adjourn 

sine die. Each has made substantial contributions to their 

States, to the Nation, and to the Senate during their time 

here.

Æ 

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