John F. Kerry 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS 

TRIBUTES 

IN THE CONGRESS OF 

THE UNITED STATES 

UNUM

E PLURIBUS


congress.#15
John F. Kerry 


92508.001.eps
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 2015

S. DOC. 113–39 

Tributes 

Delivered in Congress 

John F. Kerry 

United States Senator 

1985–2013 

÷ 

Compiled under the direction 

of the 

Joint Committee on Printing 

[ iii ] 

CONTENTS 

Page 

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

Farewell Address ...................................................................................... vii 

Letter of Resignation ................................................................................ xxvii 

Proceedings in the Senate: 

Tributes by Senators: 

Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado ................................................ 31 

Blumenthal, Richard, of Connecticut ....................................... 14 

Boxer, Barbara, of California .................................................... 30 

Cardin, Benjamin L., of Maryland ............................................ 10 

Corker, Bob, of Tennessee ......................................................... 8 

Durbin, Richard J., of Illinois ................................................... 20 

Feinstein, Dianne, of California ................................................ 15 

Harkin, Tom, of Iowa ................................................................. 25 

Isakson, Johnny, of Georgia ...................................................... 29 

Klobuchar, Amy, of Minnesota .................................................. 19 

Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont ................................................... 3 

Levin, Carl, of Michigan ............................................................ 18 

Menendez, Robert, of New Jersey ............................................. 6, 24 

Mikulski, Barbara A., of Maryland .......................................... 17 

Nelson, Bill, of Florida ............................................................... 5 

Reid, Harry, of Nevada .............................................................. 27 

Schumer, Charles E., of New York ........................................... 25 

[ v ] 

BIOGRAPHY 

JOHN KERRY was born on December 11, 1943, at 

Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, CO. Not long after 

KERRY was born, his family returned home to Massachusetts, where his parents, Richard and Rosemary, taught him 

the values of service and responsibility and the blessings of 

his Catholic faith, lessons he carries with him to this day. 

As he was graduating from Yale University, JOHN KERRY

volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy, because, as he later 

said, ‘‘it was the right thing to do.’’ Lieutenant KERRY served 

two tours of duty in Vietnam. On his second tour, he volunteered to serve on a Swift Boat in the river deltas, one of the 

most dangerous assignments of the war. He was decorated 

with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three 

Purple Hearts. 

When he came home to the United States, JOHN KERRY

spoke out against a policy he felt gave politicians political 

cover while soldiers bore the real burden. He also began a 

lifelong fight for his fellow veterans—joining with other vets 

to found the Vietnam Veterans of America to fight for veterans’ benefits, for extension of the GI bill for higher education, and for treatment of PTSD. 

Later, JOHN KERRY accepted another tour of duty—to 

serve in America’s communities. After graduating from Boston College Law School in 1976, he went to work as a top 

prosecutor in Middlesex County, MA. He took on organized 

crime, fought for victims’ rights, and created programs for 

rape counseling. 

JOHN KERRY was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1982. 

Two years later, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and he 

won reelection four times. 

JOHN KERRY entered the Senate with a reputation as a 

man of conviction. He helped provide health insurance for 

millions of low-income children. He fought to improve public 

education, protect the natural environment, and strengthen 

the economy. 

From his groundbreaking work on the Iran-Contra scandal 

to his leadership on global AIDS, JOHN KERRY distinguished 

himself as one of our Nation’s most respected voices on naVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
[ vi ] 

tional security and international affairs. As chairman of the 

Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, he worked to 

learn the truth about American soldiers missing in Vietnam 

and to normalize relations with that country. As the ranking 

Democrat on the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, he was a leading expert on that region, including 

North Korea. He worked on a bipartisan basis to craft the 

American response to September 11 and was a leading voice 

on American policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war on terrorism, the Middle East peace process, and Israel’s security. 

In 2002, JOHN KERRY announced that he would be a candidate for President of the United States—and he went on to 

mount a come-from-behind campaign that won the Democratic nomination, and was nearly elected President in a 

close contest against a wartime President. 

JOHN KERRY returned to the Senate, where he continued 

fighting for what motivated him to enter public life in the 

first place: love of country. He was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the very committee he testified before in 1971 as a veteran pushing for an end to the 

Vietnam war. Under Chairman KERRY’s leadership, the committee addressed the key foreign policy and national security 

issues facing the United States including Afghanistan and 

Pakistan, nuclear nonproliferation, and global climate 

change. 

Before leaving the Senate, Senator KERRY was the tenth 

most senior Senator and the second longest serving Senator 

in his seat. He also held senior positions on the Finance, 

Commerce, and Small Business Committees. 

In his life of public service, JOHN KERRY is sustained by 

his loving family. He is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, and 

they have a blended family that includes two daughters, 

three sons, and six grandchildren. 

[ vii ] 

Farewell to the Senate 

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I want to begin by thanking 

my colleagues—all of them—for their unbelievably generous 

comments to me personally, in the committees, on the floor, 

and in the halls and at meetings over the course of the last 

weeks. I will always be grateful for our friendships. 

I thank my wife Teresa, who is here with us, and my entire family for their unbelievable support through this journey. 

Five times Massachusetts has voted to send me to the U.S. 

Senate. Yesterday, nearly three decades after the people of 

Massachusetts first voted me into this office, the people with 

whom I work in the Senate voted me out of it. As always, 

I accept the Senate’s sound judgment. 

Eight years ago, I admit that I had a slightly different 

plan to leave the Senate, but 61 million Americans voted 

that they wanted me to stay here with you. So staying here 

I learned about humility, and I learned that sometimes the 

greatest lesson in life comes not from victory but from dusting oneself off after defeat and starting over when you get 

knocked down. 

I was reminded throughout this journey of something that 

is often said but not always fully appreciated: All of us Senators are only as good as our staff—a staff that gives up 

their late nights and weekends, postpones vacations, doesn’t 

get home in time to tuck children into bed, and all of those 

lost moments because they are here helping us serve. They 

are not elected. They didn’t get into public service to get rich. 

That is for sure. Their names are rarely in the newspapers. 

But from the staff in the mailrooms to the people who answer the front phones to the policy experts and the managers, the legislative correspondents who write the letters, 

the caseworkers who make government accountable, and the 

people everywhere in between, they make the Senate work 

for people. 

[ viii ] 

I have been blessed to have a spectacular staff. While I 

know every one of my colleagues would say the same thing 

about their staff, it is true about mine. 

If I start naming names, I am going to miss somebody, so 

I am not going to. But I think every one of my staff will understand why I want to acknowledge five who are not with 

us any longer. They are up in heaven looking down on all of 

us, and Ted Kennedy has probably drafted all of them; 

Jayona Beal, Jeanette Boone, Bill Bradley, Louise Etheridge, 

and Gene Heller—the latter two of whom were senior citizen 

volunteers in my Boston office who opened our mail for over 

a decade. They were not paid. They just did this out of love 

of country. We miss them all, and we thank them for their 

selfless contributions. 

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record at 

this point a list of names of the people who have helped me 

serve this Nation. 

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be 

printed in the Record, as follows: 

George Abar, Nardos Abebe, Adam Abrams, Alex Abrams, Corey Ahearn, 

Robert Ahearn, Alexandra Ajemian, Paige Alexander, Beverly Allen, 

Katrina Anderson, John Anthony, Margaret Anthony, Sharde Armstrong, 

Felix Arroyo, Geoffrey Arvanitis, Samuel Asher, Kerri Axelrod, Christopher 

Badger, Zachary Bamberg, Diane Baranik, Janice Barbato, Timothy 

Barnicle, Camilla Bartels, Janice Bashford, Shannon Batten, Lauren Bazel, 

Jayona Beal, Jeffrey Bean, Camille Bedin, Jesse Belcastro, Richard Bell, 

Ifetayo Belle, Daniel Benaim, Kelley Benander, Hannah Bennett, Michael 

Beresik, Jennifer Bergman, Jonathan Berman, Shideh Biela, Guljed Birce, 

Geoffrey Boehm, Alison Bonebrake, Jeanette Boone. 

Ryan Bounsy, Kelly Bovio, Tomeika Bowden, Charles Bowman, April 

Boyd, Jim Boyle, Barbara Bracken, William Bradley, Jeremy Brandon, 

James Brenner, Felicia Brinson, Amanda Brown, Geoffrey Brown, Amy 

Brundage, Daniel Brundage, Richard Bryers, Scott Bunton, Sarah Buss, Joseph Bykowski, Brian Cafferty, Ann Cahill, Joseph Callahan, Sean Callahan, Janice Camacho, Joseph Canty, Nicole Caravella, John Carey, Larry 

Carpman, Cynthia Carroll, Meghan Carroll, Mary Carter, Jeffrey Cassin, 

Janeen-Marie Castetter, John Cavanaugh, Larry Chartienitz, Adam Chase, 

Theodore Chiodo, James Chisholm, Abraham Cho, Eliza Chon, Nicholas 

Christiansen, Michelle Ciccolo. 

Patrick Coan, Colleen Coburn, Bonnie Coder, Elizabeth Coleman, Briana 

Collier, Marissa Condon, Erika Conway, Monica Conyngham, Jasiel Correia, 

Amy Corrigan, Alexandra Costello, Amanda Coulombe, Patricia Council, Arthur Coviello, Lisa Coyle, Stephen Crane, Bonnie Cronin, Veronica Crowe, 

Francis Crowley, Joan Crownover, Elizabeth Cummings, Kevin Curtis, Amy 

Dacey, Jeremy D’Aloisio, Lauren Daniel, Andrew Davis, Christopher Dawe, 

Andrea Defelice, Evan Dellolio, April Dempsey, Monique Deragon, John 

Desimas, David Di Martino, Richard DiMartino, Benedict Dobbs, Toni 

Dockett, Quentin Donohue, Paul Donovan II, Christine Dooley, Michael 

Doonan, Sarah Dugas, John Dukakis, Tracie Durden. 

[ ix ] 

Amy Elsbree, Kathryn English, Audrey Epstein, Jonathan Epstein, Sally 

Ericsson, Meredith Fahey, Mark Falzone, Leslie Feinberg, Patricia Ferrone, 

Ronald Finlayson, John Finn, Simon Fischer, Roger Fisk, Maura 

Fitzpatrick, Christopher Flanagan, Gordon Fletcher, Michael Flynn, Kate 

Foley, Patricia Foley, Eileen Force, Marcia Ford, Dia Forman, Judith Foster, 

Lynn Foster, Taylor Francois, Kathleen Frangione, Matthew Frank, Joseph 

Fritz, Ross Frommer, Douglas Frost, Gordon Fung, Jennie Ganz, Lisa Garcia, Joanna Garelick, Denise Garris, Renee Gasper, Stephanie Gerard, John 

Gerlach, Erica Giers, Scott Giese, Maria Giesta, Lisa Glufling, Jennifer 

Glynn. 

Ian Goldin, Samantha Goldman, Caitlin Gollop, James Gomes, John 

Gomperts, Augusto Grace, Justin Grad, Patricia Gray, Tennie Gray, Christopher Greeley, Meagan Greene, Daniel Gross, Carole Grunberg, Sasha 

Gsovski, Adrienne Guide, Larry Gurwin, Dillon Guthrie, Therron Hagen, 

Kevin Haggerty, Susie Hagins, Melissa Haluptzok, Eric Hamburg, Alexandra Harper, Whitney Harrelson, Shelly Harrington, Jonathan Harris, 

Morgan Harris, Jamar Harrison, Sebastian Hazzard, James Healy, James 

Hedberg, Jennifer Heilig, Kevin Herbert, Elohim Hernandez-Camacho, AJ 

Hetzner, Devon Hewitt, Carmen Hicks, Heather Higginbottom, Kaaren 

Hinck, Maura Hogan, Meaghan Hohl, Ryan Honeyman, Mirah Horowitz. 

Kristian Horvei, Vanessa Householder, Richard Houser, James Houton, 

Marcus Howard, Matthew Howard, Thomas Hubbard, Celes Hughes, Jeremy Hunt, James Hunter, Nisharna Jackson, Jeffrey Jacobs, David Jansen, 

Stanley Jean-Charles, Vanessa Jean-Simon, Aaron Jenkins, Lorrie Jenkins, 

Jon Jennings, Tiffany Jilek, William Johnson, Patrick Johnson-Cheatham, 

Diane Jones, James Jones, James Jordan, Kathleen Joyce, Jeremy Kane, 

Mary Kane, Helen Kanovsky, Jonathan Kaplan, Moses Karugu, David Kass, 

Deborah Katz, Deborah Kearney, Antionetta Kelley, Kimberley Kendall, Lee 

Kennedy, Shailagh Kennedy, Suzannah Kerr, Amy Kerrigan, Kathleen 

Kerrigan, Conor Kilroy, Haeyun Kim, Renee Kinder. 

James King, Evan Kirsch, Cornell Knox, Amy Kobeta, Jackie Kohn, Karen 

Kornbluh, Alexandra Kougentakis, Peter Kovar, David Kowal, Paula 

Kowalczuk, Joan Kraus, Connor Kuratek, Zachary Kurland, Thomas La 

Fauci, Bonnie La Rue, Rachelle Lacque Love, Alexander Landin, Annette 

Larkin, Barry Lasala, Roger Lau, Dawn Lavallee, Meghan Leahy, Janet 

Lebel, Michael Leighs, David Leiter, Robin Lerner, Matthew Levin, Richard 

Levitt, Carissa Lewis, Jeffrey Lewis, Shaunda Lewis, Susan Lewis, Leslie 

Lillard, Simon Limage, Colleen Lineweaver, Ann Linnehan, Sylvia Liotta, 

Katharine Lister, Jonathan Litchman, Nancy Lo, Jennifer Lockhart, Frank 

Lowenstein, Danielle Luber. 

James Ludes, Sandra Lumpkin, Lisa Lynch, Nathan Mackinnon, Brandon 

Macneill, Ian Macpherson, John Madigan, Marion Magraw, Kristina Malek, 

Rachel Mann, Katherine Manning, Mary Marcuss, Alexandra Marks, Sarah 

Marks, Mary Marsh, Matthew Martin, Roy Martin, Alyssa Mastromonaco, 

Jennifer Masuret, D. Gray Maxwell, Megan McCafferty, Richard McCall, 

William McCann, Sybil McCarthy, Ryan McCormick, Elizabeth McEvoy, 

Kelly McGovern, Kara McGuire, Kevin McGuire, David McKean, Patrick 

McKiernan, Christopher McMahon, Gregory McMorrow, Barbara McQueen, 

Bradford Meacham, Lisa Mead, Michael Meehan, Jason Meininger, Dora 

Menefee, Stephen Meunier, Johanna Michaels, Dimitri Michaud, Heather 

Mizeur. 

Evelyn Monteiro, William Moody, Linda Moore, Keshia Morall, Erik Morrill, Cara Morris, Vincent Morris, Tim Morrow, Greg Moscow, Nassar Mufdi 

Ruiz, Khalifah Muhammad, Sarah Mulkem, Marie Murphy, Harry 

[ x ] 

Nathanson, Brendan Neal, Andrew Nelson, Charlene Neu, Karena 

Neubauer, Joseph Newman, Kerry Newman, David Nibert, Marvin Nicholson, Eric Niloff, Paul Nissenbaum, Edward Noonan, Jessica Nordstrom, 

Tyler Obenauf, Andrew O’Brien, Thomas O’Connor, Brendan O’Donnell, 

Christopher Olson, Eric Olson, Ashley O’Neill, Leigh O’Neill, Brittney 

Opacak, Barbara Opacki, Mary O’Reilly, Brigid O’Rourke-Brady, Kathryn 

Ousley, Mary Pappey, Michael Paroby, Jon Patsavos, Megan Perkins, Alexis 

Perlmutter. 

John Phillips, Anna-Liviya Piccione, Mary Lou Pickel, Evan Pinsonnault, 

Cathryn Piscitelli, Carlos Polanco, Gareth Porter, Jeanne Poulter, Ayanna 

Pressley, Daniel Prince, Colleen Puma, Michael Queenan, David Quinn, 

Nancy Ramsey, Haley Rauch, Tovah Ravitz-Meehan, Lisa Reid, Andrea 

Retzky, Kathryn Rhudy, Brian Rice, John Richards, Elizabeth Richardson, 

Charles Riley, Alex Rinder, Elizabeth Rios, Jennifer Ritter, Lauren Robertson, Andrew Robichaud, Dana Robinson, Gerri-Lynn Robinson, Rima Robinson, Theressa Robinson, Edward Rogers, Nancy Rogers, Shauvi Rogers, 

Cheryl Rolfes, Frank Rose, Lisa Rosenberg, Renita Rosenberg, Ronald 

Rosenblith, Lindsay Ross, Kenneth Rossman, Gregg Rothschild. 

George Rudenauer, Caitlin Russi, Jennifer Ryan, Allison Sandera, Kristen 

Sarri, Aaron Saunders, Brett Schenker, Eugene Schlesinger, Jack 

Schnirman, Charles Scheuler, Eric Schwager, Heather Sears, Wendy Sears, 

Daniel Sepulveda, Jodi Seth, James Shaer, Robert Shapiro, Patrick Shearns, 

Charles Shepard, John Sherman, Margaret Sherry, Zachary Shore, Rebecca 

Shore-Suslowitz, Michelle Shwimer, Clare Sierawski, George Sifakis, Alison 

Silberman, Hadid Simmons, Kyle Simon, Kristen Simpson, Beatrice Smith, 

Hilleary Smith, Kathleen Smith, Nancy Smith, Richard Smith, Whitney 

Smith, Alexander Soto, Christine Spencer, Kathryn Stack, Rachele Stasny, 

Mark Sternman, Nancy Stetson, Jesse Stevens. 

Gregory Stewart, David Stone, Mary Strain, Casey Suchors-Field, Kristine 

Sudano, Keerthi Sugumaran, Brendan Sullivan, Kevin Sullivan, Kyle Sullivan, Nancy Sullivan, Paul Sullivan, Matthew Summers, Katherine Swan, 

Shelli Sweeney, Mary Szpak, Brandon Tabassi, Tristan Takos, Mary Tarr, 

Carmina Taylor, Theresa Theobald, Megan Thompson, Lauren Tighe, 

Stephani Tindall, Timothy Todreas, Jose Toirac, Atman Trivedi, Lawrence 

Trundle, Christina Tsafoulias, Yakov Tsizis, Eva Tsui, Brendan Tully, Alper 

Tunca, Sharon Updike, Kelsey Utne, Ellen Vallon, Brady Van Engelen, Paul 

Veidenheimer, Carmen Velazquez, Kevin Verge, Karen Vigliano, Varun 

Vira, Michael Vito, Jennifer Vuona. 

David Wade, Bridgette Walker, Krysten Wallace, Meghan Walsh, Lumay 

Wang, Cathleen Ward, Setti Warren, Joan Wasser, Maria Wassum, Sharon 

Waxman, Stephanie Wayne, Michael Wayno, Thomas Weber, John 

Whiteside, Michael Whouley, Scott Wiener, Jodi Williams, Karen Willis, 

Elsie Wilson, Jonathan Winer, Hope Winship, Julie Wirkkala, James Wise, 

Christina Wiskowski, Roger Wolfson, David Wood, Sarah Woodhouse, Nancy 

Woodruff, Diann Woods, Randi Woods, William Woodward, Elizabeth 

Wright, Sheila Wulsin, Anthony Wyche, Christopher Wyman, Sarah 

Yedinsky, Shawna Yen, David Yohn, Brian Young, Sally Yozell, Krista 

Zalatores, Juan Zavala, Heather Zichal, Anna Ziskend, Frances Zwenig. 

Mr. KERRY. As I thank an entire staff of 561 incredible 

men and women in Massachusetts and Washington with 

whom I have been privileged to work through these 28 years, 

I also think about the interns, 1,393, who have come in and 

out of our offices from Washington to Worcester. I am espeVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
[ xi ] 

cially proud of those who started as interns and ended up as 

my chief of staff, a legislative director, and senior policy 

staffers, or the Kerry interns who went on to work not just 

for me but who have for the last 4 years been top 

speechwriters, trip directors, and senior communications 

staff at the White House for the President of the United 

States. I am proud of our internship program, and I am 

grateful to the people who built it and who sustain it. 

I also thank the incredible group of unsung heroes who literally make the Senate work, people who work not for individual Senators but work for all of us, in every room and 

nook and cranny of this great series of buildings. The men 

and women who operate the Senate subways—Daryl and 

many others—the trains and elevators, they take us to the 

votes and meetings. They are really the glue, and we couldn’t 

function without them; they are an extraordinary group of 

people; the Capitol Police who protect us—police, whom a lot 

of people around here started to notice a little bit more after 

that awful day in 1998 when two were shot and killed on a 

busy Wednesday afternoon; the Parliamentarians and the 

clerks and staff here on the floor, including Gary, Tim, 

Trisha, Meredith, and all the folks in the Cloakroom. Dave 

on the other side and all the folks in the Republican Cloakroom—all of whom help to keep us going and are unfailingly 

patient when we call for the umpteenth time to find out 

whether the vote schedule is going to let us go home to a 

child’s dance recital or birthday party or any kind of family 

event. 

I want to thank the many Bertie Bowmans who came here 

more than 40 years ago, dug in, and made the Senate their 

cause and their concern; people such as Meg Murphy of the 

Foreign Relations Committee, who makes everybody’s life 

easier. 

I thank the reporters who catch us in the hallways—trap 

us, ambush us in the hallways, and who, despite all the 

changes and challenges in their own business, still dutifully 

document the first drafts of American history. I thank all the 

incredible people who travel through these Halls working incredibly hard to get it right, people of character who cover 

this place as a public service, not a sport. I thank them. 

I thank David Rogers for all that he has stood for so long 

in this institution. It is hard to imagine my job without seeing him in that long green coat waiting by the elevator after 

a late-night vote. 

[ xii ] 

Sometimes in politics it is now almost a sport in America 

to dismiss the contributions of people who work in government, people who make the Senate work, but people whom 

the public never sees. I have admired the way our former 

colleague, Ted Kaufman, used to come down to the floor once 

a week and tell the story of one individual Federal worker. 

The stories are legion. Instead of tearing these people down, 

we ought to be lifting them up. I thank them all for the part 

they play in our democracy. 

I will share with you, now that I have come to this moment in the journey, I can say without reservation that nothing prepares you for it. Many times now in 29 years I have 

been at my desk on the Senate floor—starting way over 

there, No. 99—listening as colleagues bid the Senate farewell. Sometimes a farewell speech signals a complete departure from public life, sometimes a new journey altogether, 

sometimes forced departure, sometimes a leap for freedom. 

I am grateful that at this moment, thanks to my colleagues, serendipity, and the trust of our President, while I 

am closing a chapter, it is not the final one. But I assure 

you, amid the excitement and the possibility, I do feel a wistfulness about leaving the Senate; and that is because, despite the obvious frustrations of recent days and years—a 

frustration that we all share—this place remains one of the 

most extraordinary institutions of any kind on the face of the 

Earth. 

On occasion we have all heard a Senator leave here and 

take their leave condemning the Senate for being broken, for 

having become an impossible setting in which to try to do 

the people’s business. Well, I want to be very clear about my 

feelings. I do not believe the Senate is broken—certainly not 

as an institution. There is nothing wrong with the Senate 

that can’t be fixed by what is right about the Senate—the 

predominant and weighty notion that 100 American citizens, 

chosen by their neighbors to serve from States as different 

as Massachusetts and Montana, can always choose to put parochial or personal interests aside and find the national interest. 

I believe it is the honor of a lifetime—an extraordinary 

privilege—to have represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Senate for more than 28 years. What a remarkable gift it has been to carry the banner of ‘‘Senator 

from Massachusetts,’’ just as each of you feel that way about 

your States—a banner, in our case, that was passed from the 

sons of the American Revolution, such as Daniel Webster, to 

[ xiii ] 

the sons of immigrants such as Paul Tsongas, and to know 

that a State where the abolitionists crusaded at Faneuil Hall 

and the suffragettes marched at Quincy Market could send 

to Washington sons, such as Ted Kennedy and Ed Brooke, 

who fought to expand civil rights; now, a woman, Elizabeth 

Warren, who proved that in Massachusetts the glass ceiling 

has finally been forever shattered. What a remarkable gift 

Massachusetts has given me to come here and learn so much 

about the rest of our country. 

I have had the privilege of learning what truly makes our 

Nation tick. What a gift, to have been the nominee of my 

party, to have come within a whisper of winning the Presidency against a wartime incumbent; but more important, to 

have experienced the magic of our Nation in such a personal 

way, to experience the gift of traveling along the banks of 

the mighty Mississippi through Iowa and South Dakota and 

along the rivers where Lewis and Clark marked and measured the dream of our first Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, who foresaw an America that would advance into the 

West; to experience a journey that took me to Alabama, 

where I stood silently in the very pulpit from which Dr. King 

preached his dream of an America united, and dipped my 

fingers into the fountain in Birmingham where water flows 

over the names of those murdered trying to vote or just registering to vote, to see the water trickle over the words of Dr. 

King’s prayer that ‘‘justice might roll down like waters and 

righteousness like a mighty stream.’’ I drove across the Hoover Dam, and I wondered, as I did, at what America can accomplish when we want to, when we put our minds to it. 

Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge at dawn I was reminded it was built at the height of the Great Depression, 

when so many feared our best days were behind us. What I 

have seen and heard and learned in traveling across our 

country as a Senator from Massachusetts has prepared me 

more for my travels to other countries as Secretary of State 

than any travel to any foreign capital. 

I already know I will miss the best reward of carrying the 

title ‘‘Senator,’’ and that is when you open a letter from 

someone who has traveled every route and exhausted every 

option and who ultimately turned to you as the last resort 

in public life and they finally got the help they needed. I 

know my colleagues who have experienced this will say there 

is nothing better than getting that ‘‘I have tried everything, 

but nobody would listen to me, but you got it done’’ letter or 

sometimes when you are walking a street in a community at 

[ xiv ] 

home and somebody comes up to you and thanks you for a 

personal response they never expected to receive. That is 

when public service has more meaning than the war of 

words our constituents dodge on the cable news. 

Standing at this desk that once belonged to President Kennedy and to Ted Kennedy, I can’t help but be reminded that 

even our Nation’s greatest leaders and all the rest of us are 

merely temporary workers. I am reminded this Chamber is 

a living museum, a lasting memorial to the miracle of the 

American experiment. 

No one has captured this phenomenon more eloquently or 

comprehensively than Robert Caro did in his masterpiece 

about the Senate called ‘‘Master of the Senate.’’ I am sure 

many in this room—I know most people have read it. In that 

book, before we learned of the levers Lyndon Johnson pulled 

to push our Nation toward civil rights, Caro described the 

special powers the Founders gave the Senate and only the 

Senate, powers, Caro writes, ‘‘designed to make the Congress 

independent of the President and to restrain and act as a 

check on his authority, power to approve his appointments, 

even the appointments he made within his own administration, even the appointments to his own Cabinet.’’ 

This body has now exercised that power on my behalf and 

I will always be grateful. 

Another master of the Senate, Massachusetts’ Daniel Webster, delivered 183 years ago this week what has often been 

praised as the greatest speech in Senate history. He stood at 

the desk that now belongs to the senior Senator from New 

Hampshire and argued forcefully in favor of the very idea 

that makes us the United States, that we are all in this together, that we each have a stake in the successes and failures of our countrymen, that what happens in Ohio matters 

to those in South Carolina or in Massachusetts or to Montanans. ‘‘Union and liberty,’’ Webster shouted, ‘‘now and forever, one and inseparable.’’ 

As Caro retells it, those words spoken among the desks in 

the Senate left those in the gallery in tears and cast a model 

for how those of us in this Chamber must consider the constituents of our colleagues as well as our own. But the truth 

is that none of us ran for this office because of a great debate 

held centuries ago. None of us moved here because of the 

moving words of a Senator long since departed. We honor 

this history because we are here because of the legacy that 

we can and want to leave. It is up to us, to my colleagues 

[ xv ] 

here today and to those who come after us, it is up to us to 

keep the Senate great. 

I fully believe we will meet that obligation if, as the President told the Nation and the world last week, we seize this 

moment together. Yes, Congress and public life face their difficulties these days but not because the structure our Founding Fathers gave us is inherently flawed. For sure there are 

moments of much great frustration, for the American people 

and for everybody in this place. But I don’t believe they are 

the fault of the institution itself. It is not the rules that confound us per se. It is the choices people make about those 

rules. 

The rules we work by now are essentially the same ones 

that existed when I joined the Senate and found things to 

move much more easily than they do today. They are essentially the same rules under which Daniel Webster and Lyndon Johnson operated, and they did great things. They are 

almost the same rules Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen 

and Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch used to pass great pieces 

of legislation. They are the same rules under which the Senate Democrats and President George Herbert Walker Bush 

passed an agreement, including tax increases, to at least 

begin to tackle the deficit. I remind everyone, as I take my 

leave from the Senate, when President George H.W. Bush returned from agreeing to a deficit reduction agreement at Andrews Air Force Base, he wrote in his personal diary that he 

might well have sealed his fate as a one-term President. He 

did what he thought was right for the country, and he laid 

the groundwork for our ability to three times balance the 

budget at the end of the 1990s. That is courage, and the Senate and the Congress and the country need more of it. 

Frankly, the problems we live through today come from individual choices of Senators themselves, not the rules. When 

an individual Senator or a colluding caucus determines that 

the comity essential to an institution such as the Senate is 

a barrier to individual ambition or party ambition, the country loses. Those are the moments in which the Senate fulfills, not its responsibility to the people but its reputation as 

a sanctuary of gridlock. 

I ask colleagues to remember the words of Ben Franklin, 

as that long Philadelphia summer yielded our remarkable 

Constitution. Late at night, after their work was complete, 

Dr. Franklin was walking down the steps of Constitution 

Hall, of Independence Hall, and a woman called out to him 

and she said, ‘‘Well, Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or 

[ xvi ] 

a monarchy?’’ Franklin answered: ‘‘A Republic, if you can 

keep it.’’ 

Sustaining a functioning republic is work and it is, more 

than ever, I believe, our challenge today. I am hardly the 

first and I will, I hope, probably not be the last to call on 

Congress to remember why we are here, to prioritize our 

shared interests above the short term, to bridge the breadth 

of the partisan divide and to reach across the aisle and take 

the long view. Many have stood here delivering farewell 

speeches and lamented what became of the Washington 

where President Reagan and Speaker O’Neill could cultivate 

an affiliation stronger than party or a Congress that saw 

true friendships between Senators such as Kennedy and 

Hatch, Inouye and Stevens, Obama and Coburn; the odd couples, as they have been dubbed. 

I cannot tell you why, but I do think it is possible this moment may see a turn in the spirit of the Senate. There are 

new whispers of desire for progress, rumors of new coalitions, and a sense of possibility—whether it is on energy or 

immigration. 

I am deeply impressed by a new generation of Senators 

who seem to have come here determined not to give in to the 

cynicism but to get the people’s business done. I am confident that when today’s freshmen take their turns in leaving the Senate, they will be able to tell of new Senators 

added to that estimable list of odd couples, and with any 

luck by then it will not be odd. 

So I leave here convinced we can keep our Republic strong. 

When President Kennedy observed that ‘‘our problems are 

manmade; therefore they can be solved by man,’’ he was 

talking about a much more literal kind of nuclear option 

than the euphemism we use today to discuss Senate rules. 

But his vision is just as important for us to recognize in our 

time, whether we are talking about the ability of Senators to 

debate and vote or about the issues on which they do so. It 

is still true today, as he said 50 years ago, that ‘‘reason and 

spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable, and we believe,’’ he said, ‘‘they can do it again.’’ 

I believe that too. 

So what effort do we need to put into our reason and spirit 

in order to do it? I believe there are three most significant 

challenges that have conspired to bring about a dangerous 

but reversible erosion in the quality of our democracy: the 

decline of comity, the deluge of money, and the disregard for 

facts. 

[ xvii ] 

First, I have witnessed what we all have, a loss of simple 

comity, the respect that we owe one another, and the sense 

of common cause that brings all of us here. The Senate as 

a body can change its rules to make itself more efficient, 

sure. But only Senators, one by one in their own hearts, can 

change the approach to legislating which Henry Clay correctly defined as the art of consensus. 

I came to the Senate in 1985 as a Member of a hopeful and 

hard-charging class of freshmen. Paul Simon, Tom Harkin, 

Al Gore, Phil Gramm, Jay Rockefeller, and I all have at least 

three things in common. We were all sworn in as Senators 

at the same time. We each explored running or ran for the 

White House, and none of us made it there. 

(Laughter.) 

The last remaining Member of that class, Senator Mitch 

McConnell, has now again been elevated by his peers as the 

Republican leader. 

I see a lot of a very similar aspiration that we felt when 

I came here in 1985 in today’s freshmen and sophomores. 

Many came to the Senate running on the premise that it is 

broken beyond repair. I encourage each and every one of 

them to reject that premise in order to restore the promise 

of the Senate. The Senate cannot break unless we let it. 

After all, the value of this institution, similar to any instrument of power, is how you use it. But we can’t ignore the fact 

that today, treaties that only a few years ago would have 

passed 100 to nothing, don’t pass at all. People who want to 

vote for something they believe in actually don’t do so for 

fear of retribution. That is a reflection on all of us. As I prepare to represent our Nation in capitals around the world, I 

am more than conscious that my credibility as a diplomat 

and ours as a country is determined, to a great degree, by 

what happens right here in our own Capital City. 

The antidote to the current narrative of American decline—and you will hear it in China, in Iran, in other parts 

of the world—the antidote to that, and it is pushed by rival 

countries, is to demonstrate that we can get our economic 

house in order because we can be no stronger abroad than 

we are here at home. It is that simple. The unwillingness of 

some to yield to the national interest is damaging to America’s prospects in the world. We are quick to talk about the 

global economy and about global competition, but it is our 

own procrastination and outright avoidance of obvious 

choices that threatens our own future. Other nations are 

[ xviii ] 

both quick and glad to fill the vacuum that is brought about 

by our inaction. 

If the Senate favors inaction over courage and gimmicks 

over common ground, the risk is not that we will fail to move 

forward, it is that we will fall behind, we will stay behind, 

and we will surrender our promise to those who are more 

than willing to turn our squandered opportunity into their 

advantage. 

The world keeps turning. The Senate cannot afford to forever stand still. Just as failing to deal with our deficit and 

our debt puts our long-term interests at risk, so does taking 

America to the brink of default. Our self-inflicted wounds reduce our leverage and our influence in the world. By failing 

to act, Congress is making it harder to actually advance 

America’s interests and making it harder for American business to compete and for American workers to succeed. If 

America is to continue to lead the free world, this must end. 

We have all bemoaned the lack of comity in the Senate. 

Those of you who remain here will have the power to restore 

it. The choice to work respectfully with one another is about 

as simple as it gets. I have one suggestion, perhaps. While 

I am honored by the presence of so many colleagues who are 

here now—Republicans and Democrats—I have to say we all 

look forward to more days when the U.S. Senate desks are 

full with Senators debating, deliberating, learning, listening, 

and leading. We would all be stronger if this Chamber is 

once again crowded because it is the world’s greatest deliberative body, the home of debate and deliberation, and not 

only when it becomes a departure lounge. 

There is another challenge we must address, and it is the 

corrupting force of the vast sums of money necessary to run 

for office. The unending chase for money, I believe, threatens 

to steal our democracy itself. I used the wording—and I want 

to be clear about it—I mean by it not the corruption of individuals but corruption of a system itself that all of us are 

forced to participate in against our will. 

The alliance of money and the interest it represents, the 

access it affords to those who have it at the expense of those 

who don’t, the agenda it changes or sets by virtue of its 

power, is steadily silencing the voice of the vast majority of 

Americans who have a much harder time competing or who 

cannot compete at all. 

The insidious intention of that money is to set the agenda, 

change the agenda, block the agenda, define the agenda of 

Washington. How else could we possibly have a U.S. Tax 

[ xix ] 

Code of some 76,000 pages? Ask yourself: How many Americans have their own page, their own tax break, their own 

special deal? 

We should not resign ourselves to a distorted system that 

corrodes our democracy. This is what is contributing to the 

justifiable anger of the American people. They know it, they 

know we know it, and yet nothing happens. The truth requires that we call the corrosion of money and politics what 

it is: It is a form of corruption and it muzzles more Americans than it empowers. It is an imbalance that the world has 

taught us can only sow the seeds of unrest. 

Like the question of comity in the Senate, the influence of 

money in our politics also influences our credibility around 

the world. So too does the unacceptable and extraordinary 

difficulty we continue to have in 2013 operating the machinery of our own democracy here at home. How extraordinary 

and how diminishing it is that more than 40 years after the 

Voting Rights Act so many of our fellow citizens still have 

great difficulty when they show up on election day to cast 

their vote and have their voices heard. That too matters to 

all of us. 

For a country that can and should extol the virtues of democracy around the world, our job is made more difficult 

through long lines and overt voter suppression and efforts to 

suppress people’s ability to exercise the right that we extol. 

So many still struggle to exercise that right here at home. 

The last of the three obstacles we have the ability, if not 

the will, to overcome is the unbelievable disregard for facts, 

for science in the conduct of our affairs. It, like the first two, 

degrades our credibility abroad as well as at home. 

My friends, the persistent shouting match of the perpetual 

campaign—one that takes place in parallel universes, thanks 

to our polarized, self-selected media, to some degree—makes 

it harder and harder to build consensus among people. The 

people don’t know what to believe. So in many ways it encourages an oversimplification of problems that too often retreat to slogans and not ideas for real solutions. 

America, I regret to say, is increasingly defaulting rather 

than choosing, and so we fail to keep pace with other nations 

in the renewal of our infrastructure, in the improvement of 

our schools, in the choice of our energy sources, in the care 

and nurturing of our children, in the fulfillment of our Godgiven responsibility to protect life here on Earth. That too 

must change or our experiment is at risk. 

[ xx ] 

To remain a great Nation we must do the business of our 

country, and that begins by putting our economic house in 

order. It begins by working from the same set of facts. Although I believe we cannot solve any of these problems unless we solve all of them, I note these three challenges because I believe the Senate is going to be locked into stalemate or our politics are going to be irreversibly poisoned unless we break out of it. I say this hopefully as someone who 

respects and loves this institution and loves this country and 

wants to see us move forward. 

Some things we know are moving forward. In the same 

time that comity has decreased and the influence of money 

has increased, I have seen the Senate change for the better. 

This Chamber used to be filled with the voices of men, and 

men only. Decisions affecting more than half the population 

were made by people representing the other half. When I 

walked into the Senate Chamber to take my first oath 28 

years ago, I was joined by my two teenaged daughters. It 

struck me that I had twice as many daughters as there were 

women in the U.S. Senate. Today, with the service of 20 

women—including Massachusetts’ new junior Senator—this 

is a stronger and smarter place, more representative of our 

belief that out of many, we are one; more capable of fulfilling 

the vision carried from Washington to Webster to our current President; that we are a stronger Nation when our leadership reflects our population. 

We have made huge strides on turning the page on gay 

rights. In 1993, I testified before Strom Thurmond’s Armed 

Services Committee, pushing to lift the ban on gays serving 

in the military, and I ran into a world of misperceptions. I 

thought I was on a ‘‘Saturday Night Live’’ skit. Today, at 

last, that policy is gone forever, and we are a country that 

honors the commitment of all willing to fight and die for our 

country. We have gone from a Senate that passed DOMA— 

over my objections—to one that just welcomed its first openly 

gay Senator. 

These are good changes for our Senate and our country, 

but we have more work to do. This place needs more women, 

more people of color, more diversity of background and experience, but it is still a remarkable place. 

I am reminded of the letters of Harry Truman that he 

used to write home to wife Bess as he sat in the back row 

of the Chamber. Late one night after the great debate of the 

New Deal Era, he wrote, ‘‘I hear my colleagues, and I pinch 

myself and ask, ‘How did I get here?’ ’’ 

[ xxi ] 

Several months later, he wrote Bess once more: 

Again it is late at night and I am sitting here listening to the debate, I 

look across the aisle at my colleagues and I listen and listen, and I hear 

my colleagues, and I ask myself, ‘‘How did they get here?’’ 

Well, I have no doubt that colleagues have asked that 

question about me or any one of us, and it has been back 

and forth. But 29 years later I have learned something about 

myself. I learned that the Senate runs on relationships. I 

know that some of my more recent colleagues—sent here in 

tumultuous election cycles—hear that and think it is code for 

checking their beliefs at the door and going Washington. It 

is not. I would add: Don’t kid yourself; no one got here on 

a platform of pledging to join an exclusive club and forget 

where they came from. 

When I say that relationships matter, I don’t mean backslapping, glad-handing, hail-fellow-well-met, go-along-to-getalong relationships; I mean real relationships. To today’s 

hard-charging colleagues who came to Washington to shake 

things up, I would remind them, so did I, so did Tom Harkin, 

and the others I mentioned. If I told you that a 40-year-old 

newly minted Senator John Kerry was going to tell you that 

relationships mattered most, I would have looked at you as 

if you had three heads. I cut my teeth in grassroots activism. 

I didn’t come up through the political ranks. I burst onto the 

scene as an activist, and when you are an activist, all that 

singularly matters to you—to the exclusion of almost everything else—are the issues. Where are you on an issue? Right 

or wrong, that is the ballgame. 

Wrong. It is not the ballgame. That is not what makes a 

good Senator. That is not what makes the Senate work. My 

late colleague of 25 years, Ted Kennedy, taught me that. I 

saw him late at night on the Senate floor sitting with his colleagues talking and listening. He wanted to know about your 

State; he wanted to know about your family; he wanted to 

know why you came here. He had a unique ability to know 

not just what he needed from you on a vote or a piece of legislation but to know what you needed on a personal level as 

a friend, as a colleague, as a partner. 

My old friend—now Vice President Joe Biden—had a saying in his family: If you have to ask, it is too late. With 

Teddy, you never had to ask. He always knew, and he was 

there. He was there on a foggy morning on Nantucket when 

my father passed away, and Teddy materialized almost out 

of nowhere. There he was at my porch door. He didn’t call 

[ xxii ] 

ahead; he didn’t ask. He came to mark the passage. He was 

there. It was an instinct for people and an impulse to help. 

He taught so many of us during that period of time. Somewhere along the line, he passed it on not only to me but to 

every colleague here who was privileged to work with him. 

I will never forget in 2007 on the day I announced I would 

not be running again for President. Another rough day, another passage. I got a call. Tom Harkin wanted to see me. 

My staff surmised that he was probably coming to ask for 

money for the Iowa Democratic Party. They were wrong. It 

was a visit where Tom just came to share a few words that 

were very simple but which meant the world to me; a colleague visiting just to say he was proud that I had been the 

nominee of the party in 2004, and he looked forward to 

working with me more in this institution. 

Let me tell you, those are the conversations that make the 

difference, those are the conversations you never forget, and 

that is the U.S. Senate at its best. It is a place where relationships matter the most. It matters because Teddy, Tom, 

and so many others here understood instinctively that if 100 

Senators knew each other—and our leader has worked very 

hard to try to find a way to make this happen—then you can 

find the ways to work together. 

To my surprise, I learned it here in a way that I never 

could have predicted, alongside people I never thought I 

would count as one of my proudest friends. Last week John 

McCain introduced me at my confirmation hearing. John and 

I met here in the Senate, coming from very different positions and perspectives. We both loved the Navy; I still do to 

this day. But I have different feelings from John about a 

war. 

For both of us, Vietnam was a demarcation point in our 

lives, the way it was for so many of our generation. Well, 

late one night on a codel—for people who are listening and 

don’t know about codels, it is a trip of Senators and Congressmen going somewhere in the world—to Kuwait after 

the first Gulf war, John and I found ourselves in a C–130 

sitting opposite each other. Neither of us could sleep, so we 

talked. We talked late into the night about our lives and our 

war. Shortly thereafter, George Mitchell and Bob Dole flew 

us together on a select committee to investigate the fate of 

Americans missing from the war in which we had fought. It 

was a tough time, an emotional issue in an era where 

‘‘Rambo’’ was a box office smash and a Newsweek magazine 

[ xxiii ] 

cover printed provocative photos which asked whether Americans were still alive over there. 

Into that cacophonous cauldron, John McCain and I were 

thrown together. Some were suspicious of both of us, but together we found common ground. I will never forget standing 

with John in the very cell in the Hanoi Hilton in which he 

spent a number of years of his life, just the two of us alone 

in this cell, listening to him talk about that experience. 

I will always be grateful for his partnership in helping to 

make real peace with Vietnam by establishing the most significant process in the history of our country—or of any 

country—for the accounting of the missing and dead in any 

war and afterward and then working to lift the embargo and 

ultimately normalize relations with an old enemy. John had 

every reason to hate them, but he didn’t. We were able to 

heal deep wounds and end a war that divided an awful lot 

of people for much too long. That is a common experience, 

and only the relationships that are forged in the Senate 

could have made that happen. 

John has this great expression: ‘‘A fight not joined is a 

fight not enjoyed.’’ He loves to debate, he loves to battle, and 

so do I. But I will tell my colleagues, having fought beside 

him and having fought against him, it is a heck of a lot better and more fun to have John fighting alongside of you. We 

still have differences. There has been a lot of newsprint used 

up covering some of them, but I will tell my colleagues this: 

We both care about the Senate as an institution, and we 

both care about the country’s leadership and the world even 

when we see it differently, and we both know that at some 

point America has to come together. 

We shared this common experience, and we have seen a lot 

together. We both were able to travel the country as Presidential nominees for our party, and both returned to the 

Senate to carry on in a different way. Few people know what 

that feels like. But just being by his side in Hanoi made it 

impossible for me not to be overwhelmed by his sense of patriotism and his devotion to country. It meant something 

else: If you can stand on the kind of common ground that we 

found in the Hanoi Hilton, then finding common ground on 

issues here at home isn’t hard at all. I will always thank 

John McCain for that lesson. 

One of the magical things about the Senate is this amazing mix of people and how they could come together to make 

something happen. I have learned and been impressed by 

the experiences of every single one of my colleagues, and I 

[ xxiv ] 

honestly marvel at the reflection of each State’s special character in the people they send here. I have learned from all— 

from a fiery, street-smart social worker from Maryland; from 

a down-to-earth, no-nonsense farmer from Montana; from a 

principled, conservative doctor from Oklahoma; from an 

amazingly tenacious advocate for women and the environment who blazed a trail from Brooklyn to Rancho Mirage 

and the Senate, who teams with a former mayor of San 

Francisco who took office after the assassination of Harvey 

Milk, committed to stand against violence and for equality; 

from a cantankerous, maverick patriot and former prisoner 

of war from Arizona, whom I just talked about; to a songwriting, original, compassionate conservative from Utah; 

from a fervent, gravel-voiced people’s champion from Ohio; 

from a soft-spoken, loyal, Medal of Honor winner from Hawaii who used to sit right here; and from a college professor 

turned proud prairie populist and Senate Pied Piper who 

was taken from us far too soon and far too quickly. From 

every Member of the Senate, there are characteristics, passions, quirks, and beliefs that bring this place alive and 

unite to make it the most extraordinary legislative body on 

Earth. That is what I love about the Senate. 

I love that instead of fighting against each other, Bill 

Frist, the former Republican leader, and I were able to join 

forces to fight HIV and AIDS around the globe and to convince an unlikely conservative named Jesse Helms to support and pass a bill unanimously that saved millions of lives 

on our planet. That is what makes this place so special. 

Instead of ignoring a freshman Senator, Chairman Claiborne Pell allowed me to pass my very first amendment to 

change our policy on the Philippines. So I found myself with 

Dick Lugar, paired as Senate election observers who helped 

expose the voter fraud of the Marcos regime, ending a dictatorship and giving a nation of more than 90 million people 

the opportunity to know democracy again. That is what the 

Senate can do, and that is what I love about it. 

Instead of focusing on our different accents and opposite 

ideologies, Jesse Helms and I found that our concern for illegal drugs was greater than any political differences between 

us. So Jesse made it possible for an investigation to proceed 

and for the Senate to expose the linkages between the 

Contras in Nicaragua and the flow of drugs to American cities. That is what the Senate can do. 

[ xxv ] 

The Senate can still work if we learn from and listen to 

each other—two responsibilities that are, like Webster said 

about liberty and union, one and inseparable. 

So as I offer my final words on the Senate floor, I remember that I came of age in a Senate where freshman Senators 

didn’t speak that often. Senators no longer hold their 

tongues through whole sessions of Congress, and they 

shouldn’t. Their voices are just as valuable and their votes 

count just as much as the most tenured Member of this body. 

But being heard by others does not exempt them from listening to others. 

I came to the National Mall in 1971 with fellow veterans 

who wanted only to talk to our leaders about the war. President Nixon tried to kick us off The Mall. We knocked on door 

after door on Capitol Hill but too often couldn’t get an audience of representatives. A precious few, including Ted Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, came to where we were camped 

out and heard what we had to say. I saw first hand that our 

political process works only when leaders are willing to listen to each other but also to everyone else. That is how I 

first came to the Senate—not with my vote but with my 

voice—and that is why the end of my tenure here is in many 

ways a bookend. 

Forty-two years ago, I testified before Senator Fulbright’s 

Foreign Relations Committee about the realities of war in 

Vietnam. It wasn’t until last week that I would sit before 

that committee again, this time testifying in my own confirmation hearing. It completed a circle which I never could 

have imagined drawing but one our Founders surely did. 

That a citizen voicing his opinion about a matter of personal 

and national consequence could one day use that voice as a 

Senator, as the chairman of that same committee before 

which he had once testified as a private citizen, and then as 

the President’s nominee for Secretary of State, that is a fitting representation of what we mean when we talk about a 

government ‘‘of the people, for the people, and by the people.’’ 

In the decades between then and now, this is what I have 

learned above all else: The privilege of being here is in being 

able to listen to your constituents. It is the people and their 

voices much more than the marble buildings and the inimitable institutions they house that determine whether our democracy works. 

In my first appearance before the Senate, at the Fulbright 

hearings, I began by saying, ‘‘I am not here as John Kerry. 

[ xxvi ] 

I am here as one member of the group of 1,000, which is a 

small representation of a very much larger group.’’ 

I feel much the same way today as I leave. We are still 

symbols, representatives of the people who have given us the 

honor to speak and advocate and vote in their name, and 

that, as the Bible says, is a ‘‘charge to keep.’’ One day, the 

99 other Senators who continue on for now—and soon to be 

100 again in a few days—will also leave in their own turn— 

in your own turn—some by their own choosing and some by 

the people’s. Our time here is not meant to last forever. If 

we use the time to posture politically in Washington, we 

weaken our position across the world. If democracy deadlocks here, we raise doubts about democracy everywhere. If 

we do not in our deeds prove our own ideals, we undermine 

our security and the sacred mission as the best hope of 

Earth. But if we do our jobs right, if we treat our colleagues 

with respect and build the relationships required to form 

consensus and find the courage to follow through on our 

promises of compromise, the work we do here will long endure. 

So let us in the Senate or in the House be bigger than our 

own districts, our own States. Let us in spirited purpose be 

as big as the United States of America. Let us stand for our 

beliefs but, above all, let us believe in our common history, 

our common destiny, in our common obligation to love and 

lead this exceptional Nation. They say politics stops at the 

water’s edge. That is obviously not always true. But if we 

care for our country, politics has its limits at home and 

abroad. 

As I leave here, I do so knowing that forever the Senate 

will be in my soul and that our country is my cause and 

yours. I thank you all for your friendship and the privilege 

of serving with you. 

(Applause, Senators rising.) 

[ xxvii ] 

Letter of Resignation 

Tuesday, January 29, 2013 

U.S. Senate, Washington, DC, January 29, 2013. 

Hon. JOSEPH R. BIDEN, 

President of the United States Senate, U.S. Capitol, 

Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. VICE PRESIDENT: This letter is to inform you that with great 

gratitude to the people of Massachusetts for the privilege of serving them 

for over 28 years and with great pride in what I have been able to contribute to Massachusetts and our country, I hereby resign my seat in the 

United States Senate effective Friday, February 1st at 4:00 p.m. in order to 

assume the responsibility of Secretary of State. 

Respectfully, 

JOHN F. KERRY. 

TRIBUTES 

TO 

JOHN F. KERRY 

[ 3 ] 

Proceedings in the Senate 

THURSDAY, January 24, 2013 

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I want to commend President Obama for nominating Senator KERRY to be our next 

Secretary of State. There are few, if any, people in America 

today who have had the breadth of experience that Senator 

KERRY has had: as a military officer, as a highly decorated 

veteran, as a Lieutenant Governor, as a U.S. Senator, and as 

chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He is exceptionally well qualified to be the next Secretary of State. 

JOHN KERRY is a leader of extraordinary intellect, wisdom, 

and insight. To those of us who have watched him, worked 

with him, and traveled with him over the years, it is crystal 

clear that he is a natural diplomat. He lives and breathes 

the art of diplomacy. He is instinctively drawn to understanding and addressing the global security challenges of our 

time. 

He is also multilingual. I have heard Senator KERRY in 

meetings in other capitals of the world, and I have watched 

those who were there pay special attention to what he had 

to say as he conversed in their language. This is someone 

who does not need on-the-job training. He has been learning 

the job over the course of four decades of public service. 

I chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State and Foreign Operations. In that role, I will 

look forward to working closely with Senator KERRY in his 

new position as Secretary of State, to provide the resources 

necessary to promote and protect U.S. interests around the 

world. 

It is a formidable assignment. We face daunting threats 

from religious extremism, nuclear proliferation, climate 

change, growing competition for energy, water, and other 

natural resources—all amid the obligations of deficit and 

debt reduction. But these threats and challenges present opportunities if we approach them intelligently. 

Some in Congress have an almost xenophobic attitude. 

They would have us retreat. They would slash our contribuVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
[ 4 ] 

tion to the United Nations and weaken our ability to build 

alliances, which would only embolden our adversaries. 

They would cut the State Department’s budget at a time 

when our diplomats and consular officers, many of whom 

work long hours in dangerous places, already are stretched 

to the limit. Then they criticize and politicize when tragedies 

happen. 

We saw that yesterday, when members of the other body 

criticized Secretary of State Clinton for lapses in diplomatic 

security, only a week after they prevented passage of my 

amendment that would have allowed for the transfer of unused State Department funds to improve security at U.S. 

embassies around the world. Let’s stop the hypocrisy. 

Some here would roll back funding for international development programs, which help to create political stability in 

conflict-prone regions and build markets for U.S. exports, on 

the grounds that these funds would be better spent at home. 

They miss the point. Ninety-nine percent of the Federal 

budget is spent on domestic programs. The notion that somehow the wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth is an island, and that we can ignore what is happening in the world 

around us is foolhardy, and it is dangerous. 

JOHN KERRY understands this, and he knows that appropriations begin with Congress. In times of close scrutiny of 

all aspects of the Federal budget and fierce competition for 

funds among Federal agencies, he will need to make his case 

up here repeatedly, and I will work with him to do that. We 

have to convince Congress and the American people why the 

State Department’s budget is important. As Secretary of 

State one can have the best policies and the best plans to implement them. But if you don’t have the resources, if you 

don’t have the people to do it, the best plans in the world 

don’t go very far. 

Secretary Clinton has done an outstanding job. I have told 

her that I stand in awe of what she has accomplished 

throughout the world and within the State Department. We 

all owe her a debt of gratitude for her steady hand and tireless energy as Secretary of State. I have traveled with her 

to other countries. I have seen how she approaches problems, 

always prepared and with such energy. Every American 

should be proud to be represented by her. She has done an 

extraordinary job in reintroducing America to the world after 

the missteps following 9/11 that caused so much damage to 

our image and authority abroad. 

[ 5 ] 

Her successor also has not only a hard act to follow, but 

he also understands, as we all do, that America must continuously demonstrate to the rest of the world what we stand 

for as a people. 

I believe the Congress and the American people, and I 

think, in a way, the world, is fortunate to have a nominee 

for the position as qualified as Senator KERRY. I will enthusiastically vote for him when his name comes before the Senate. . . . 

TUESDAY, January 29, 2013 

Mr. NELSON. Madam President, I want to speak about 

the extraordinary public service that has been rendered by 

the Secretary of State and whose long record of public service I want to commend. I rise on behalf of my friend, our 

former colleague, our honorable Secretary of State, Hillary 

Clinton. . . . 

Madam Secretary, you have truly honored us with your indispensable leadership. On behalf of all our Senate colleagues, we thank you for your extraordinary service to this 

country. I want to say that your position will be in capable 

hands with our colleague and your former colleague, Senator 

JOHN KERRY, who will serve, as we confirm him in the next 

24 hours, as the 68th Secretary of State. 

Senator KERRY has served in this Senate in a distinguished amount of public service since 1985. He grew up 

traveling the world with his father in the Foreign Service. 

He fought in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze and Silver Stars, along with three Purple Hearts. I know he is going 

to build upon and continue the legacy and the extraordinary 

record of Secretary Clinton and will enhance America’s leadership in the world. I look forward to his speedy confirmation. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to executive session to 

consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. 

The legislative clerk read the nomination of JOHN Forbes 

KERRY, of Massachusetts, to be Secretary, Department of 

State. 

[ 6 ] 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, 

there will be 2 hours of debate on the nomination equally divided in the usual form. 

The Senator from New Jersey. 

Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I rise to speak to the 

nomination of Senator KERRY to be the next Secretary of 

State. 

It has been more than 100 years since a member of the 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee was directly nominated 

to be the Secretary of State. The last was Senator John 

Sherman of Ohio, who was selected to serve as Secretary of 

State to President McKinley. It is important to note that this 

historical fact exists because Senator KERRY’s path isn’t one 

commonly taken but one that is earned by a select few, and 

he has earned this opportunity. 

From the first time JOHN testified before Chairman Fulbright as a young returning Vietnam war hero in 1971 to the 

day the President announced his nomination as Secretary of 

State, he has invested himself in all of his endeavors, always 

looking for the truth, for answers, uncovering the facts, hearing all the evidence, and then publicly speaking truth to 

power based solely on what was best for this Nation. I know 

he will carry those leadership traits with him into his new 

position, and I can think of no one better prepared to take 

on the challenges of this position. 

As a Senator, as a member of this committee, and as a 

chairman, JOHN has already built strong relationships with 

leaders across the world, which will allow him to step 

seamlessly into the role of Secretary of State. Senator KERRY

will need no introduction to the world’s political and military 

leaders and will begin day one fully conversant not only with 

the intricacies of U.S. foreign policy but with the understanding of the nuanced approach necessary to effectively 

interact on a multinational stage. 

When Vice President Biden was chairman of the Foreign 

Relations Committee, he said on more than one occasion that 

‘‘good international relationships are always predicated on 

strong interpersonal relationships.’’ JOHN KERRY understands there is no substitute for strong interpersonal relationships, whether in Senate politics or international diplomacy. Secretary of State is not a desk job. It requires constant personal interactions in the furtherance of American 

foreign policy. 

During his 30 years in public life and more than 25 years 

in the Senate, Senator KERRY has championed many issues. 

[ 7 ] 

Earlier today the Senate Foreign Relations Committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate unanimously and 

presented Senator KERRY with an honorary resolution highlighting a few of his many accomplishments. 

Among his accomplishments are the partnership he formed 

with Senator John McCain that led to an effort to investigate 

the fate of American soldiers unaccounted for in Vietnam 

and normalize relations with a former enemy—which is, in 

essence, Vietnam; his leadership of difficult, sensitive, and 

comprehensive investigations in the Senate on everything 

from the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and illegal money laundering, to the Noriega regime in Panama 

which is well known; advocating for democratic elections in 

the Philippines and serving with Senator Lugar as part of a 

Senate delegation that uncovered the fraud that led to the 

ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos; working with the 

Cambodian Government and the United Nations to facilitate 

the creation of the genocide tribunal in Cambodia to prosecute key members of the Khmer Rouge; advocating for programs that help secure nuclear, biological, and chemical 

weapons stockpiles and materials so they don’t fall into the 

hands of hostile states or terrorists; and leading the Senate 

to provide its advice and consent to ratification of the New 

START Treaty with Russia. 

During the Arab Spring, Senator KERRY supported a no-fly 

zone over Libya, which helped to save thousands of civilians 

from being massacred, and he was a voice of courage and 

conscience in calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step 

aside and begin an orderly and peaceful transition to a 

democratic political system in Egypt. 

JOHN has been a tireless advocate for the cause of peace 

in the Sudan and South Sudan and played an instrumental 

role in the successful referendum in 2011. 

JOHN is well known for his bipartisan work with former 

majority leader Bill Frist on comprehensive HIV/AIDS legislation that laid the foundation for the President’s Emergency 

Plan for AIDS Relief, a program that provides lifesaving 

treatment for people with HIV/AIDS and supports broad prevention efforts that save lives every day. 

Many of you know that JOHN is a tireless and most convincing advocate for addressing global climate change and 

supporting the transition to a clean energy future. As chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, he convened 

eight major hearings and roundtables on climate change and 

energy security, underscoring their connection to global staVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
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bility, economic competitiveness, and America’s national security. 

In his new role, his portfolio will be greatly expanded as 

he represents the interests of the Nation, from securing our 

embassies and protecting our overseas personnel to promoting commerce, enhancing cross-cultural ties, and keeping 

America secure through cooperation where possible and isolation where necessary, as in the cases of Iran and North 

Korea. 

Whatever the challenges we will face as a nation, in my 

view, the State Department could not be in better hands. 

When it comes to America’s role in world affairs, I know we 

all agree that it is critical that the United States remain 

fully engaged, that we project not only the power of our military strength when necessary but the wisdom of our democratic ideas. I have no doubt that Senator KERRY will rise to 

meet these challenges as he has so consistently in his many 

years of service to his State and this country. 

I see the distinguished ranking member on the committee, 

Senator Corker, whom I look forward to working with as we 

move forward in the days ahead. 

I think all Members will say that even when they did not 

agree with Chairman KERRY on a given issue, they always 

felt he had an open ear, an open door, an opportunity for full 

debate, an effort to seek the common ground, particularly in 

U.S. foreign policy. I believe those traits are going to serve 

him extraordinarily well in his role as Secretary of State as 

he deals with the Senate and the House of Representatives 

as part of promoting U.S. foreign policy in a way that brings 

us as cohesively together as we can to promote the national 

interests and security of the United States. 

I look forward at the end of this time period to a strong 

confirmation vote to send a message to the world that this 

is our Secretary of State, and he speaks for America on behalf of the Obama administration and the people of the 

United States. 

Madam President, I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee. 

Mr. CORKER. Madam President, I wish to thank the 

chairman for holding the business meeting the way he held 

it today and the hearings last week for this confirmation. 

I know a lot of people think that because of the way partisan politics are here in Washington, sometimes we can’t be 

[ 9 ] 

happy for someone on the other side of the aisle when they 

do well. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

I just want to say that I thought Senator KERRY acquitted 

himself exceptionally well in the hearings we had last week. 

I thought they were wide-ranging, and I think he had the opportunity to display the depth of knowledge he has on many 

issues. I don’t know of anybody who has lived a life that has 

been more oriented toward ultimately being Secretary of 

State than JOHN KERRY, and for that I also am happy for 

him and his family and the fact that very soon he is going 

to be able to express himself on behalf of our Nation in this 

way. 

I think most of you know that his dad was a Foreign Service officer. I know that you know he certainly made a splash. 

Some people thought it was negative, some people, positive, 

but he certainly made a splash here during the Vietnam era 

and from that point on has been very active. So, again, I 

thought he acquitted himself exceptionally well. 

There are four points I want to bring out. I know that he 

knows—and many of us have seen recently just because of 

some of the things that have happened in Libya—we have a 

State Department that needs some oversight, and we haven’t 

provided it. Neither side of the aisle has provided it now for 

over a decade. 

I know he sees the need for the Senate, through its authorization process—and the House doing the same—to be involved and to be partners with him as we try to cause this 

organization, which over the years has just built into a sporadic stovepipe entity, to be assisted. A lot of times when a 

political person comes into an organization, the bureaucracy 

tries to wait it out until the next person comes along. I don’t 

think it can happen any more in any agency than it does in 

the State Department. 

So I look forward to working with the chairman in whatever way he ends up deciding we are going to work together 

on this particular issue to really look at the State Department. I know Senator KERRY certainly welcomes that. 

We most recently had a hearing with Senator Clinton on 

Benghazi, and there have been Accountability Review Board 

recommendations that have been put forth, and I know Senator KERRY has said he is certainly going to see those 

through and make sure they are fully implemented. 

I know we talked a great deal in the hearing—and certainly we have done so personally—about our nuclear posture and nuclear modernization, which is a big part of what 

[ 10 ] 

we discussed during the Start Treaty—something I supported and worked with him on—and I found his comments 

about where we need to be in that regard certainly reassuring. 

I also think he is very clear-eyed as it relates to the threat 

we face as a nation, especially in north Africa now but in 

many places as it relates to terrorist groups such as Al 

Qaeda. As a matter of fact, I look at Senator KERRY as a realist. While we have not always agreed on every issue, as the 

chairman just mentioned, I have always found him to be 

someone who is open to discussion. I think he wants only the 

best for our Nation. There is no question that as he moves 

ahead over the next several years, I am sure he will take positions that in some cases I and others—maybe Senator 

Menendez—may view as not exactly the course of action that 

ought to be taken on behalf of our country. But my sense is 

that he will be open to listening, and I think he will be willing to sit down and talk about that as we move ahead. 

He came out of the committee today by voice vote unanimously. As the chairman mentioned, I think he is going to 

receive a very strong vote of support today here on the Senate floor. As the chairman mentioned, I think that it is good 

for our Nation, as he goes out across the world representing 

us, for people to understand that this is someone who received overwhelming support from the Senate. 

All of us know we live in a dangerous world. We live in 

a world that is changing dramatically. We live in a world in 

which things come over the transom on a daily and weekly 

basis that are unexpected. I mean, we look at what is happening right now throughout the country of Egypt, which we 

might not have expected to occur a week ago. To have someone like Senator KERRY, who has spent a lifetime on these 

issues and understands the history and institutional issues 

that have bound us or separated us from these countries— 

having someone like him representing us will be a very good 

thing. 

I join the chairman in supporting him. I know numbers of 

people will have comments regarding his service here in the 

Senate but also his future service, and I look forward to listening to that. 

Madam President, I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland. 

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I would like to join with 

Senator Menendez and Senator Corker in urging our colVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
[ 11 ] 

leagues to promptly confirm Senator KERRY as our next Secretary of State. 

It is a great honor to serve in the Senate. It is a great 

privilege and honor to represent the people of Maryland here 

in the Senate. Part of that special privilege is the people we 

serve with, the incredible public servants we have had the 

privilege of serving with in the Senate, and I put Senator 

KERRY at the top of that list. 

He has devoted his life to public service in the finest manner. He is so qualified to assume the responsibilities of Secretary of State. He understands this complex world in which 

we live and the differences among countries. Many are strategically important to the United States. Yet they don’t 

share our values. Senator KERRY understands that and understands the importance to advance U.S. interests—we 

need to understand the concerns of other countries and we 

need to establish relations with other countries. 

He has made a personal commitment to understand the 

world in which we live. I do not think there has been a Member of this body who has spent more time, gone to more 

places, met with more people in order to represent our Nation on the international stage. Senator KERRY has always 

done that with the greatest degree of competency and representing our country in the finest traditions. He has broad 

experience: experience as a soldier serving in Vietnam, experience as a Senator, 28 years representing the people of Massachusetts in the Senate. We know about his service on the 

Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I want to talk about 

two other committees on which he served. 

One is the Senate Finance Committee on which I had the 

pleasure of serving with him. There is no Senator who has 

taken the fiscal challenges of our country more seriously or 

better understands the impact our fiscal condition has on our 

national security interests. In fact, during his confirmation 

hearings he mentioned the need to get our fiscal house in 

order. I think he understands that and understands the commitment he has, once confirmed and once heading the State 

Department, to help us bring about fiscal sanity in the 

United States to do what is necessary worldwide, but also to 

do it in a most cost-effective way. 

I also served with Senator KERRY on the Small Business 

Committee. The small business community did not have a 

better advocate when Senator KERRY was chairman of that 

committee. I was pleased how many times we brought out 

initiatives to help America and small businesses grow beVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
[ 12 ] 

cause we know the growth engine for jobs has come from 

small companies. But, clearly, it has been in the last few 

years that I had the privilege of serving with Senator KERRY

as he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that 

I got to see so up close and personal his extraordinary commitment to our country and his ability to carry out so many 

important responsibilities. 

Senator KERRY understands our national security, yes, depends upon a strong military, but that also the other key ingredients to national security are diplomacy and development assistance. 

We had Secretary Clinton before our committee. Someone 

mentioned that was about 1.5 percent of the budget, and she 

corrected it and said it is really less than 1 percent of the 

budget. Diplomacy and international assistance is less than 

1 percent of the budget. We know what we spend on our 

military is a lot larger than that. All three are important to 

national security. 

Senator KERRY understands that. He understands through 

diplomacy we can avoid unnecessary military action. He understands through diplomacy we can make America safer. 

He understands through international development assistance we can strengthen countries, make them more stable, 

and be less likely to need to use our military. That is the 

type of leader we need as Secretary of State. We have a 

great leader today, Secretary Clinton. I think Senator KERRY

will follow in that tradition. 

Take a look at Senator KERRY’s record of advancing America’s interests. We have a safer world today through Senator 

KERRY’s efforts. As you know, we approved the New START 

Treaty with Russia, reducing the amount of nuclear weapons 

between Russia and the United States. That makes this 

world safer. His record on human rights is well known. From 

Cambodia to Burma to Kosovo and many other places 

around the world, Senator KERRY has been a leader in advancing the cause of human rights. 

We already heard Senator Menendez point out his efforts 

in Vietnam. He represented America to get an accounting of 

our POW/MIAs. It was unprecedented in modern times to be 

able to go to a country with which we are at war and have 

that kind of accounting. Senator KERRY used his talent in 

order to bring closure for many American families, and that 

was an incredible accomplishment. Then he was able to improve the relationship between the United States and VietVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
[ 13 ] 

nam, recognizing it is in America’s interests that we are able 

to communicate with other countries. 

I particularly appreciate his work on elevating the importance internationally of human trafficking. The United 

States has taken the leadership in saying, whether you are 

a receiving country or an origin country or a country of 

transport, we all have a responsibility to stop what we call 

modern slavery: the trafficking, usually of young girls, but 

also sometimes boys. The United States has taken the leadership there. 

I like to think Senator KERRY’s taking leadership on this 

started with his position on the Helsinki Commission. He is 

a former member of the Helsinki Commission. I now have an 

opportunity of being the Senate chair of the Helsinki Commission. We raised the issue of human trafficking and Senator KERRY was one of the great advocates to advance America’s leadership internationally to stop human trafficking. 

He has protected people with disabilities. 

As Senator Menendez mentioned, he has been our leader 

on energy and climate issues, recognizing the importance of 

the United States to demonstrate international leadership in 

order to deal with a global problem, a problem that is important for us to deal with as a citizen of the world but also important for us to deal with in regard to America’s economy 

and America’s energy needs and America’s security responsibilities. Senator KERRY has been a great leader on that. 

He has provided U.S. leadership for humanitarian assistance. I remember the hearings we had on Haiti in the committee and the personal commitment he made to make sure 

America was in the leadership for a country in our own 

hemisphere that suffered such a horrible disaster, and his 

work there was extremely important. 

He led our efforts in dealing with HIV/AIDS, in doing the 

responsible things as far as America’s position on that problem. He understands the importance of international development assistance to advance gender equality. It is interesting, if you want to take a look at the health of a country, 

look at the way they treat their women. We have a pretty 

strong commitment as far as international development assistance around the world. We need to make sure countries 

advance the rights of women. It is not only the right thing 

to do from what we believe as Americans, but it also provides a more stable country for us to have relations with. 

Senator KERRY understands that. 

[ 14 ] 

He has been one of the leaders in fighting corruption in 

other countries. I will always remember the hearing we had 

in our committee when former President Clinton and Bill 

Gates testified before us. These are two individuals who 

have headed a lot of international development assistance. 

They have a zero policy in dealing with countries that cannot 

control corruption because they want to make sure their assistance doesn’t go to fuel corruption. Senator KERRY understands we don’t want America’s international development 

assistance to be used to fuel corruption. That is the type of 

leadership we have in the Secretary of State. 

The list goes on of what he has been able to do to advance 

the rights and interests of the United States. I am confident 

that Senator KERRY’s legacy of fighting for democracy, 

human rights, and global peace will continue as he assumes 

his new responsibilities as the Secretary of State for the 

United States of America. 

I urge my colleagues to support his nomination. 

I thank Chairman Menendez for bringing this nomination 

to the floor so quickly and thank Senator Corker for accommodating it. It is important that President Obama has his 

security team in place as quickly as possible. I am proud the 

Senate will be doing its share, its work, by voting on this 

nomination later today. 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to speak 

first and very personally in support of the nomination of 

Senator KERRY to be our next Secretary of State. There is a 

time when the man and the moment come together in a profoundly historic way. Senator KERRY’s nomination to be Secretary of State of the United States at such a time when his 

leadership can be pivotal in shaping America’s role in the 

world, as a leader for human rights, as well as the use of its 

extraordinary strategic power for peace. 

There is also a time when the woman and a moment come 

together and that has been so for Hillary Clinton, who has 

done such extraordinary work, incomparable in transforming 

America’s role in world history. I believe that just as she has 

met the challenges in guiding American foreign policy and 

leading the dedicated men and women of our Foreign Service, so will Senator KERRY rise to the difficult challenges 

ahead. Senator KERRY’s whole life has prepared him for this 

job, and I have every confidence he will help keep America 

safe and secure and build our capacity and alliances in pursuit of democracy and a more peaceful world. 

[ 15 ] 

Last week, I met with Senator KERRY to share my experiences from a recent visit to the Middle East and Afghanistan 

and to urge him to immediately take up the issue of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe occurring within Syria and 

across its borders in Turkey and Jordan. My experiences 

came from a trip I took with Senator McCain and Senator 

Whitehouse, and others of my colleagues who share my impression that drastic and dramatic humanitarian aid must 

be provided for those refugees. 

I am pleased the President has announced an additional 

$155 million for the Syrian people today. I believe we must 

also provide aid and assistance to the Syrian Opposition 

Council. It matters as much how we provide this aid as the 

total amount we provide. I am very encouraged by Senator 

KERRY’s listening and hearing us, and I look forward to continuing our work with soon-to-be Secretary of State KERRY

on this issue and many other vital security concerns. . . . 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express 

my strong support for the nomination of JOHN KERRY to be 

our next Secretary of State. 

As a friend and colleague for more than 20 years, I can 

think of no one who is more qualified and better prepared to 

be our Nation’s chief diplomat. 

He has the intelligence, judgment, compassion, determination, and above all, leadership experience to help the administration confront and find commonsense solutions to the 

multitude of foreign policy challenges now before us. 

His story is well known to those of us who have worked 

side by side with him for so many years. 

The son of a distinguished Foreign Service officer, his understanding of the world and America’s critical role in it 

began at an early age. He learned the value of American diplomacy and the indispensable role played by our diplomats 

here in Washington and at our consulates and embassies 

around the world. 

He served with distinction and honor in Vietnam, earning 

a Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. He 

saw first hand the costs of war, and he recognized that military force must be used wisely and only after all other options have been exhausted. 

After 2 years as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, he 

came to the Senate in 1985 and took his place on the Senate 

Foreign Relations Committee, rising to the position of chairman in 2009. 

[ 16 ] 

As a member of that committee and its leader, he demonstrated the qualities that will serve him well as Secretary 

of State. 

He did his homework, and he asked tough questions. He 

traveled the world and engaged key leaders, gaining their respect and confidence. He developed an admirable track 

record of listening carefully to both sides of an issue and developing the relationships on both sides of the aisle necessary to forge bipartisan agreements. 

From reestablishing diplomatic relations with Vietnam 

and organizing the ratification of the New START Agreement to managing our relationship with Pakistan and Afghanistan, fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and addressing 

the threat posed by climate change, Senator KERRY has 

clearly left his mark on U.S. foreign policy. 

As President Obama noted, ‘‘JOHN has played a central 

role in every major foreign policy debate for nearly 30 years.’’ 

That experience will serve him well as Secretary of State. 

Indeed, we live in challenging and constantly evolving 

times. 

We have ended the war in Iraq, and our mission in Afghanistan is winding down. But the threat of global terror 

endures. 

We have seen the Arab Spring topple autocrats and bring 

hope for a new future. But the ultimate fate of those countries and their commitment to democracy, human rights, and 

the rule of law remains uncertain. 

We have enacted a robust set of bilateral and multilateral 

sanctions on Iran and launched a diplomatic initiative 

through the P5+1 process, but its nuclear program continues. 

We have built a close and mutually beneficial relationship 

with China, but there are lingering questions about its 

human rights record and its growing military assertiveness, 

particularly in the South China Sea. 

We have seen how our humanitarian and development assistance programs can lift people out of poverty in the developing world; yet nearly 2.5 billion people still live on less 

than $2 a day. 

These are just some of the items that will be on Senator 

KERRY’s agenda as Secretary of State. 

I know he understands that in facing these challenges 

American leadership is essential but we will also need the 

help and cooperation of our friends, allies, and partners in 

the international community. 

[ 17 ] 

I know he understands that the strength of this country 

lies not just in our military but in the power of our ideas. 

I know he understands that in order for the United States 

to lead, we must maintain a strong and effective international affairs budget. 

We will certainly miss Senator KERRY’s leadership and experience in the Senate. But I am heartened to know that he 

will continue to serve his country and bring those skills to 

the State Department, representing the United States 

around the world. 

I urge my colleagues to support Senator KERRY’s nomination to be our next Secretary of State. 

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I am pleased to stand here 

today to support President Obama’s nomination of my esteemed colleague, Senator JOHN KERRY, to serve as our Nation’s next Secretary of State. 

Senator KERRY has had a long career of service to the 

American people. We have served together in the Senate for 

26 years, and I look forward to continuing our relationship. 

As a Senator he has always approached his work with seriousness and dedication. Nowhere can this be seen more than 

in his work as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations 

Committee, where he has shown a mastery of the challenges 

that face our global community. 

As the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee he 

has played a prominent role in the establishment of U.S. foreign policy. He has traveled the globe and built relationships 

and coalitions with international leaders. Most important, he 

has demonstrated an ability to balance our Nation’s long history of diplomacy with our changing national security needs. 

The unanimous support given to him by the Foreign Relations Committee exhibits the respect and confidence he has 

earned from this body. 

The Department of State faces evolving challenges that reflect our increasingly interconnected world and require a 

modern approach to diplomacy. Senator KERRY will lead a 

team that must confront global security challenges and ensure the security of our diplomatic corps and their families. 

I am confident that Senator KERRY will meet these challenges, and I will work with him to ensure that the State Department and its employees have the resources they need to 

serve their mission. 

While I am sorry to see Secretary Clinton leave her post 

after 4 successful and productive years, I am pleased to 

know that Senator KERRY will take on the role with the 

[ 18 ] 

same dedication. I call on my colleagues to join me in approving his nomination to Secretary of State. 

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, JOHN KERRY is a valued colleague and a loyal friend, and we will miss him in the Senate. But at a time when our Nation faces complex and difficult challenges around the globe, he is especially well qualified to serve as Secretary of State, and I strongly support his 

confirmation. 

Unquestionably, Iran is at the top of the list of challenges 

the next Secretary of State will face. Senator KERRY has supported efforts in the Senate, including sanctions language included in the defense authorization acts for 2012 and 2013, 

that have helped isolate the Iranian regime. At his confirmation hearing, Senator KERRY succinctly stated the Obama administration’s policy on Iran: 

We will do what we must do to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear 

weapon and I repeat here today: Our policy is not containment, it is prevention and the clock is ticking on our efforts to secure responsible compliance. 

Senator KERRY will be an effective and dedicated executor 

of that policy as we unify the international community in our 

efforts to prevent the Iranian Government from developing 

nuclear weapons. 

Another significant challenge for our foreign policy is the 

volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Here again, Senator 

KERRY’s unique qualifications will serve our Nation well. He 

strongly supports the plan for transitioning the security lead 

to Afghan forces so they can provide for their own security. 

He has established a critical relationship with President 

Karzai that will strengthen our bilateral relations as we define the enduring strategic relationship between the United 

States and Afghanistan for post 2014. Senator KERRY understands the importance of negotiating a bilateral security 

agreement that provides our troops the necessary protections, including legal immunity, for a limited force to continue to train, advise, and assist the Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations after 2014. Senator KERRY

also has significant experience engaging with Pakistan, 

which remains key to efforts to establish security and stability in South Asia. Through the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act 

and other efforts, KERRY has led efforts to strengthen civilian 

institutions in Pakistan and to reset our bilateral relations. 

Senator KERRY also recognizes, as he said during his confirmation hearing, that ‘‘[m]ore than ever, foreign policy is 

economic policy.’’ Those words will hearten working families 

[ 19 ] 

in my State and across the Nation whose well-being is increasingly connected to our economic competitiveness around 

the world, our ability to engage with other nations to ensure 

that our companies and workers have the opportunity to 

compete in the global marketplace on an equal footing, and 

our recognition that economic competition today is not just 

among companies, but also among the countries that support 

their companies and workers. I look forward to working with 

Senator KERRY as we bring all the levers of American policy 

to bear on this issue of paramount importance to American 

prosperity. 

Another issue on which I look forward to cooperating with 

Senator KERRY is our policy toward Cuba. Senator KERRY

and I have similar voting records on U.S. policy toward 

Cuba. We also both recognize the need for policy that places 

maximum pressure on the Cuban regime to democratize. 

However, our voting records maintain that our Cuba policy 

is counterproductive in promoting change in Cuba. I look forward to working with Senator KERRY to rebalance our approach to Cuba as we look forward to a new era in that nation’s history and its relations with us. 

Throughout his public career, JOHN KERRY has proven his 

dedication not just to America’s interests, but to its values. 

Indeed, he recognizes that our ability to defend our interests 

around the world depends on adherence to the values that 

make the United States a beacon of freedom and opportunity. He has spoken with eloquence about the need to combat violence and extremism around the world not just with 

our military might, but with the power of our ideas. As he 

said in his confirmation hearing, ‘‘America lives up to her 

values when we give voice to the voiceless.’’ His commitment 

to aiding those around the world whose lives have been shattered by war, repression, or disaster is in keeping with those 

values. 

Senator KERRY knows personally the cost of war and the 

value of peace. He knows the difficulty of the challenges we 

face, and the importance of American leadership in facing 

those challenges—leadership important not just to our Nation’s security and prosperity, but to the world’s. He has 

been an outstanding servant of the American people, and I 

am confident he will continue that record of extraordinary 

service as our next Secretary of State. 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am proud to support 

the confirmation of our colleague Senator KERRY to be Secretary of State. Senator KERRY is one of our Nation’s great 

[ 20 ] 

leaders in foreign affairs, and has been since he arrived in 

the Senate 28 years ago. His remarkable record speaks for 

itself, but I would especially like to recognize and thank him 

for his service as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee over the past 4 years. 

In addition to his hands-on diplomacy in Afghanistan, 

Pakistan, Sudan, and elsewhere around the globe, Senator 

KERRY has fought to bring up more treaties for Senate consideration. We of course remember his leadership during the 

consideration of the New START Treaty in 2010, which has 

enabled a responsible reduction of our nuclear arsenal in 

concert with Russia. But he also worked to bring forward the 

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and 

held hearings on the Convention on the Law of the Sea, two 

important international agreements that the United States 

has not ratified. Trying to shepherd treaties through the 

Senate is a much less glamorous task than traveling to summits overseas, but Senator KERRY approached them with the 

same level of passion and energy. He fought for these treaties because he truly believes in the importance of American 

leadership in the world, and he understands that that leadership does not come solely from our military strength but 

our commitment to dialog and diplomacy. 

Senator KERRY will undoubtedly serve as Secretary of 

State with the same honor and integrity that have defined 

his career. It will be up to us to continue his legacy in the 

Senate, and I look forward to continuing to work with him 

as he takes on this new challenge. 

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

that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. 

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

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I believe the business before 

the Senate is the confirmation of JOHN KERRY as Secretary 

of State, to which I would like to speak. I actually rise in 

support of two Senators, one former and one current, as 

America’s Secretary of State. 

Last week, both were guests at the Foreign Relations Committee which I served on and both did an outstanding job. 

The Secretary of State, former Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, has served the U.S. interests with distinction. 

She championed a diversity of causes that strengthen our security and at the same time improved the lives of so many 

around the world, particularly women and children. 

[ 21 ] 

Secretary Clinton leaves an incredible legacy in her diplomatic efforts. There is no one more suited or more qualified 

to take up the challenges and promise than my friend and 

colleague and our mutual friend Senator JOHN KERRY of 

Massachusetts. 

JOHN KERRY came to the Senate almost 30 years ago. 

From his first days as a freshman, he served with distinction 

on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As a Navy patrol boat captain in the Vietnam war, he had notable and 

lasting exposure to complex foreign policy challenges and the 

wars that result when diplomacy fails. 

Certainly one lesson he brought back with him was the 

heavy and all too personal knowledge of the consequences of 

war. But his experience in representing the U.S. interests 

abroad did not begin in this institution. Rather, the journey 

to his nomination for Secretary of State began when JOHN

KERRY was a child, when his own father was a Foreign Service officer. JOHN tells fond stories about his time as a child 

living in Berlin while his father was stationed there. 

During those years, he developed a profound respect for 

the men and women of the Foreign Service, their sacrifice, 

their dedication, and their ability to demonstrate the values 

of our democracy. During his tenure as a Senator from Massachusetts and from 2009 as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, JOHN KERRY has been a tireless 

leader on behalf of the American people to ensure that our 

security remains strong and our interests well represented 

around the world. 

He has been a leading voice on the Iran-Contra investigation, the war and fragile peace in Afghanistan, arms control 

and verification, building lasting ties with Pakistan, and perhaps in his most personal contribution, opening diplomatic 

relations with Vietnam. I would like to speak to that for a 

moment, if I can, because it is a personal story I would like 

to share. 

It was JOHN KERRY and John McCain, more than any others, who moved us from that stage in our history where we 

shunned the people of Vietnam to the point where we recognized their country, established normal relations with them, 

and built a new relationship. There were no better Senators 

to do it than JOHN KERRY and John McCain, both of whom 

were decorated veterans of the Vietnam war, both of whom 

gave so much in that conflict, particularly Senator McCain, 

spending 5 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. They 

worked hard to establish normal relations with that country 

[ 22 ] 

and to put behind the bitterness and the war that had divided the two countries, the United States and Vietnam. 

It was not easy. One of the issues front and center was the 

question of prisoners of war and missing in action. There 

were all sorts of rumors and speculation that, in fact, there 

were still Americans being held prisoner in Vietnam. That 

rumor was very strong across America. There was a lot of 

criticism of the Vietnamese in not cooperating with us in trying to identify anyone still remaining or the remains of 

American soldiers who died in that conflict. 

John McCain and JOHN KERRY came together and put an 

incredible bipartisan voice to resolving these issues. It came 

to my attention because it was about the time when I was 

elected to the Senate in 1996. I served in the House of Representatives with an extraordinary individual, Pete Peterson 

of Florida. 

Pete Peterson had been an Air Force pilot in the Vietnam 

war, shot down, and himself imprisoned in a POW camp for 

more than 5 years. He was a quiet person and did not talk 

much about it. But one day, I kind of provoked him at lunch, 

and he started talking about what it meant to live in isolation for 5 years, how they coped, how they survived, and the 

impact it still had on his life. 

President Clinton at that moment decided it would be a 

significant symbol that the first Ambassador of the United 

States to Vietnam would be Pete Peterson of Florida, a man 

who had been held as a POW by the Vietnamese would return as American’s voice in that new country. He was 

brought before the Senate for confirmation. 

I remember saying to my staff when I came over here: Be 

sure and tell me when Pete Peterson’s nomination comes to 

the floor. I want to say a few words about my friendship 

with him and what he means to me and how important this 

appointment is. Time passed. I did not hear anything. Then 

there was a ‘‘60 Minutes’’ program on that I happened to 

watch. It was all about Pete Peterson becoming the Ambassador to Vietnam. I came back to my staff. I was upset. I 

said, ‘‘You were supposed to tell me when this happened so 

I could get up and give a speech and say something nice.’’ 

They said, ‘‘It never happened—‘60 Minutes’ is speculating. 

The fact is, Pete Peterson’s nomination has been put on 

hold—a secret hold in the Senate.’’ 

I could not believe it. I called Pete Peterson. I think he 

lived in Jupiter, FL, at the time. I said to him, ‘‘Pete, what 

is going on here?’’ 

[ 23 ] 

He said, ‘‘Dick, I am about to give up. It has been almost 

1 year since President Clinton named me to the spot and I 

cannot clear the Senate. Somebody is holding me up. I do not 

know who it is. I have to get on with my life.’’ 

I said, ‘‘Let me at least talk to some people.’’ So I came to 

the floor. The first person I looked for was JOHN KERRY and 

then John McCain. They said, ‘‘Yes; there is a hold, but we 

are trying to work through it.’’ 

I said, ‘‘You know, if you cannot get this done and done 

quickly, then I think there has to be a speech on the floor 

that says: ‘Holding Pete Peterson in a POW camp for 5 years 

is bad enough, but the Senate holding his nomination as Ambassador is unforgivable. We need to vote on Pete Peterson. 

He has given so much to this country.’ ’’ 

It is credit to JOHN KERRY and John McCain that they 

quieted down this new Member of the Senate and said, ‘‘Let 

us get this done quietly.’’ They did. Pete Peterson went on 

to serve as Ambassador in Vietnam. He was a widower at 

the time. He met a lovely young Vietnamese-Australian 

woman. They married. They now live in Australia and we 

keep in touch from time to time. But I think of that moment 

in time in our history when JOHN KERRY and John McCain 

showed what diplomacy and careful consideration can do. 

We not only established relations with Vietnam, we sent 

a great individual to serve as its first Ambassador. They did 

it quietly and effectively. Can he be a great Secretary of 

State? You bet he can. I will be the first to tell you that I 

saw his skill first hand when I came to the Senate. If confirmed, he will bring a breadth of experience to global challenges, some new and some which we cannot even anticipate 

as we debate this matter. The list is vast and formidable: 

Iran, Syria, North Korea, cybersecurity, failed and fragile 

states, and democratic backsliding in Russia, to name a few. 

One of the issues JOHN KERRY has tackled for many years 

that will desperately need attention, and the President highlighted in his Inaugural Address, is that of climate change. 

As was mentioned during his nomination hearing last week, 

climate change is one of the most pressing and consequential 

issues of our time. It is not just an environmental issue, it 

is a moral issue. What kind of planet will our generation 

leave for our children and grandchildren? How will history 

judge us if we ignore the evidence and warning signs and do 

nothing to head off climate catastrophes? Senator KERRY is 

uniquely qualified to address this great moral challenge. He 

knows if we are ever going to get China and India to take 

[ 24 ] 

responsibility for their carbon emissions, we have to start 

from a strong position of legitimacy, having taken these 

steps ourselves. 

He knows when the United States tackles climate change, 

it also increases our diplomatic standing and reputation 

around the world. He knows tackling climate change will 

help prevent a host of terrible global problems, from famine, 

water shortages, to political instability, any of which can 

draw the United States into a costly or bloody conflict. 

Addressing climate change is in our vital national, economic, and security interests. I know JOHN KERRY will tackle 

this and many other challenges that await him at the State 

Department. He has been a trusted and admired colleague of 

mine and so many others in the Senate. I have enjoyed his 

work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I wish to 

especially thank him for calling the Convention on Disability 

Treaty for consideration by the Senate. I am sorry it did not 

pass, but it was not for lack of effort by JOHN KERRY. 

His passionate pursuit of a safe and just Nation and world, 

his deep sense of patriotism and commitment to America’s 

most challenged values are well documented. While I am 

sorry to lose him in the Senate as a colleague, I can think 

of no better person to serve as our Nation’s next Secretary 

of State. I congratulate JOHN KERRY on his nomination. As 

a friend and colleague, I urge my fellow Senators to swiftly 

confirm JOHN KERRY so he can get about the work of making 

America a safer nation. 

Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, it is my understanding 

we are coming to the end of the time on this debate—or consideration, I should say. There has really been no debate. I 

think that speaks to Senator KERRY’s tremendous standing 

in the Senate on his nomination as Secretary of State. 

This is a Member of the Senate who has an extraordinary 

American history. After volunteering for the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam war, Senator KERRY was awarded a Silver 

Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Upon returning home, he continued his efforts to fight for and protect the 

veterans who served beside him in combat, joining with others to found the Vietnam Veterans of America organization, 

working tirelessly for veterans’ benefits. 

With over three decades of foreign policy and national security experience under his belt, Senator KERRY is uniquely 

qualified to serve as the next Secretary of State. A decorated 

Vietnam combat veteran, dedicated public servant, with deep 

experience in international affairs and close relationships 

[ 25 ] 

with Presidents and Prime Ministers throughout the world, 

he will have an extraordinary beginning to his job as Secretary of State. 

He has demonstrated time and time again his ability to 

build coalitions and craft compromises. He has amassed a 

broad record of foreign policy accomplishments and has distinguished himself as one of the Nation’s most respected 

voices on national security. 

I look forward to a very strong bipartisan vote that sends 

a very clear message to the world: This is America’s representative. This is our Secretary of State. I believe he has 

earned that vote and that respect through a lifetime of work 

and the tremendous collegiality he has had among Members 

on both sides of the aisle, including those who may not agree 

with him on any given issue but have always respected the 

manner in which he has approached that issue. 

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I know Senator KERRY will 

be speaking tomorrow, so I will be brief. I think I speak on 

behalf of every one of us here that we so admire the job Senator KERRY has done in the many different phases of his past 

life. We are excited he will be our Secretary of State, and for 

JOHN KERRY I think the best is yet to come. 

Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, as we say goodbye to Secretary Clinton in her capacity as Secretary of State, we say 

welcome aboard and congratulations to my good friend Senator JOHN KERRY on the resounding confirmation of his nomination to serve as our next Secretary of State. His departure 

will be a tremendous loss to the Senate, but I respect President Obama’s decision to tap him for this absolutely critical 

position. There is no one in the United States better qualified by experience, knowledge, and temperament to step into 

this extraordinarily demanding job. 

To repeat what my colleagues already know, but it always 

bears repeating, after volunteering to serve in the U.S. Navy 

during the Vietnam war, JOHN KERRY was awarded the Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Upon returning home, he became a national leader in the fight for 

justice for veterans who served beside him in Vietnam as 

well as for veterans of wars before and since Vietnam. He 

joined with others to found the Vietnam Veterans of America 

organization. He has worked hard here in the Senate over all 

of these years to secure veterans’ benefits, for an extension 

of the GI bill for higher education, and for appropriate treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. 

[ 26 ] 

As we all know, Senator KERRY has played a leading role 

in shaping American foreign policy for many years in his position on the Foreign Relations Committee and as chair of 

that distinguished committee. As chair of that committee, he 

was instrumental in securing passage of the New START 

Treaty, a vital arms accord with Russia that is helping to reduce the danger of nuclear proliferation. He has served as a 

trusted special envoy to Afghanistan, Sudan, and Pakistan 

at crucial moments. Senator KERRY advocated for democratic 

elections in the Philippines. He was part of a delegation that 

uncovered the fraud that ultimately led to the removal of 

President Ferdinand Marcos. He was a strong proponent of 

U.S. action to end ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and to oppose 

sanctions on Burma tied to human rights abuses. Senator 

KERRY has been a leader in promoting economic development 

and recovery in Haiti, fighting global HIV/AIDS, supporting 

democracy and human dignity, poverty assistance, and the 

advancement of women’s empowerment throughout the 

world. 

In his early days in the Senate, Senator KERRY and I—in 

fact, we were elected together in 1984—came to the Senate 

together. But shortly after that, Senator KERRY and I went 

on a factfinding mission to Nicaragua and unearthed information regarding the activities of the Contra guerillas, which 

he presented to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Based 

in part on his groundbreaking findings, the committee 

launched an investigation into the funding of the Contra 

guerillas that ultimately uncovered the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra scandal, a scheme to divert profits from illegal arms sales to Iran to support the Contra guerillas. 

Senator KERRY and I, as I said, were both members of the 

class of 1984 here in the Senate. We worked together to end 

illegal support of the Contras in Nicaragua, and we have collaborated on a range of human rights issues since then. 

In particular, I salute his tireless and valiant attempt last 

year to pass the Convention on the Rights of Persons with 

Disabilities. I can’t tell my colleagues how hard he worked 

to get it through the committee and before that worked with 

others to make sure we had a good convention to the United 

Nations that mirrored our own Americans with Disabilities 

Act. JOHN KERRY worked tirelessly on this, and I am deeply 

grateful for all that work and the passionate commitment he 

made to this treaty. I know he shares my disappointment 

that the Senate failed to give its consent to this treaty, but 

I look forward to working with him in his new role as SecVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:43 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\92508.TXT KAYNE
[ 27 ] 

retary of State and with Senator Menendez, our new chair 

of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, not only to promote the convention around the world, which I know Senator 

KERRY will do in his position as Secretary of State, but to 

once again bring this convention to the floor of the Senate 

and this time to prevail and pass it. 

There is no question in my mind that JOHN KERRY will be 

a great Secretary of State. I wish him and Teresa the very 

best, and I look forward to working with him in the years 

ahead. 

WEDNESDAY, January 30, 2013 

Mr. REID. Madam President, I rise today to honor JOHN

KERRY, our colleague, the senior Senator from Massachusetts. I congratulate Senator KERRY on his confirmation as 

our Nation’s next Secretary of State. 

I am pleased he will continue to serve his country in this 

important role. He will be missed by his Senate colleagues, 

that is for sure. 

Senator KERRY said at his confirmation hearing that the 

Senate is in his blood, and that is true. As he represents 

America’s interests around the world, his experience as a 

Senator will serve him and our country well. 

For 28 years, Senator KERRY has been a dedicated representative of the people of Massachusetts in the Senate. 

Senator KERRY has also rendered distinguished service to his 

country in the Navy, to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

as Lieutenant Governor and as Senator, and to the Democratic Party and the people of this country as the 2004 Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. 

He is a brilliant man. He was a debater at Yale and won 

awards for his skilled oratory over a number of years. That 

talent has allowed him to speak for freedom and justice at 

each stage of his career. 

Before he graduated college, he was a vocal critic of the 

Vietnam war. But upon graduation, Senator KERRY volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy, and serve he did. Later he 

said he did it because ‘‘it was the right thing to do.’’ 

Senator KERRY learned the value of service at home. His 

father was a Foreign Service officer, and his mother was a 

nurse during World War II. He served two tours as a Navy 

lieutenant in the jungles and rivers of Vietnam. He was 

awarded the Silver Star for his gallantry, a Bronze Star for 

[ 28 ] 

valor also, and three Purple Hearts. But even after his service in the war, his opposition continued. 

On April 22, 1971, Senator KERRY became the first Vietnam veteran to testify before Congress about the war when 

he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 

which was chaired by the famous Senator William Fulbright—a committee he would later chair. It was a remarkable appearance. He was the first veteran to testify. 

He went on to attend Boston College Law School. He 

worked as a prosecutor in Middlesex County before he was 

elected Lieutenant Governor in 1982. Just 2 years later he 

was elected to the U.S. Senate. He has served in the Senate 

for five terms. He has always been an unflinching advocate 

for veterans. He helped found the Vietnam Veterans of 

America and has worked tirelessly to secure treatment for 

servicemembers dealing with post-traumatic stress. 

Senator KERRY has served 6 years on the Senate Intelligence Committee and, remarkably, 28 years on the Foreign 

Relations Committee. He has been a leading advocate of 

doing something about global climate change. 

Senator KERRY has convened eight major hearings and 

roundtables on climate change and energy security since taking the gavel as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, 

replacing Vice President Biden. 

It was in the early 1990s that Senator KERRY’s brilliant 

mind and exceptional dedication came to my attention. I had 

the good fortune of being chosen by Leader Mitchell to be a 

member of the Select Committee on MIAs—missing in action—and POWs. It was very controversial at that time. 

There was a belief by many that there were live Americans 

either in Cambodia, Laos—maybe in Vietnam. We had not 

done as much as people thought we should do about those 

missing in action, and it was a very volatile period of time 

in the history of this country. 

I saw him with patience, with wisdom, serve as chairman 

of that select committee. As I have indicated, it was a difficult assignment, an important assignment, and he handled 

it—as he has done everything I have watched him do— 

thoughtfully and with integrity. 

Since coming to the Senate I have been fortunate to be invited to his home for lengthy but fascinating foreign policy 

discussions with Senate colleagues and foreign policy experts. In recent years, Senator KERRY was also instrumental 

in securing passage of the New START Treaty with Russia, 

[ 29 ] 

which is helping to reduce the danger of nuclear proliferation. 

He has served as an unofficial envoy for President Obama 

to Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, and some countries probably none of us even know where he went. There were many 

times he came to me and said: I have to go, and he tells me 

where he is going, and there was nothing in the newspapers 

about where he had gone. But he is a great evaluator of people, and because of that, the President has trusted him and 

has sent him on all these missions. Now he will do that as 

Secretary of State. 

He has authored numerous pieces of legislation to prevent 

the global spread of HIV/AIDS. He has also played a central 

role in crafting American policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 

war on terror. I can remember one very difficult time when 

he spent days and days, principally with President Karzai, 

working out a difficult issue following the elections they had 

there. He has been focused on the Middle East peace process 

and Israel’s security for his entire time as a member of that 

committee, the Foreign Relations Committee. 

For more than 30 years, Senator KERRY has been a powerful voice for his constituents in Massachusetts as well as an 

engaged citizen of the world. Throughout those years, JOHN

has matched his unflinching passion for democratic values 

with forward-thinking actions to advance those values. 

No one is better qualified than JOHN KERRY to continue 

the exceptional work of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

While we are saddened to lose his leadership in the Senate, 

we saw yesterday the support he has, where virtually every 

Senator voted to support him as the next Secretary of State. 

I wish him well as he embarks on this next challenge, and 

I am confident he will meet the challenge. 

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate overwhelmingly confirmed the nomination of JOHN KERRY to be 

the next Secretary of State of the United States of America. 

I was away from the Capitol during the 2 hours allocated for 

that debate, and I wanted to add my comments and my commendations to now-Secretary KERRY on his confirmation to 

be Secretary of State of our country. 

For the last 4 years, I had the privilege of serving on the 

Foreign Relations Committee with Senator KERRY as chairman. During that period of time, I got to watch him as a diplomat, as an American, as a Member of the Senate, and as 

one committed to peace and security around the world. I 

watched him carefully in the Middle East as he negotiated 

[ 30 ] 

and worked hard to see to it that we had peace but that we 

had peace through strength and we had peace through our 

partnership with the great State of Israel. I watched him on 

the comprehensive peace agreement in the Sudan to help 

shepherd across the creation of the newest nation, South 

Sudan, and a bloodless election that caused that to take 

place. I watched him in many other cases dealing with diplomats from Africa, to Europe, to the Middle East, representing the United States of America in all of its best interests. I watched him work hand in hand with Secretary of 

State Clinton to ensure that there was no division between 

the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the policies of 

this country. But most important of all, in those tough 

issues, like the ratification of the New START Treaty, nowSecretary KERRY, then Chairman KERRY, made sure that 

every member of the committee in the entire markup and 

hearing process had their questions answered, their concerns 

answered, and was a part of the process. He never tried to 

ramrod anything through the committee nor through the 

Congress but, rather, did his job in an exemplary way. 

It is a privilege for me to rise tonight to pay tribute to 

JOHN KERRY, the next Secretary of State of the United 

States of America, and commend him on his confirmation to 

that job. 

THURSDAY, January 31, 2013 

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

to my colleague and friend, Senator JOHN KERRY, as his distinguished career in the U.S. Senate comes to an end. 

While I am sad to see him go, I am so proud that Senator 

KERRY will be continuing his long record of service to the 

United States as Secretary of State. 

For more than 13 years, I have had the privilege of serving 

with Senator KERRY on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Throughout that time, Senator KERRY has consistently shown a tremendous breadth of knowledge regarding 

the key foreign policy challenges of the day. 

Most recently as chairman of the committee, Senator 

KERRY championed Senate ratification of the New START 

Treaty—making both our country and the world safer from 

the threat of nuclear proliferation. 

On a wide range of issues—from U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan to efforts to achieve peace between 

[ 31 ] 

Israel and the Palestinians—he has offered thoughtprovoking insight and expertise. 

That is why I believe that no one is as prepared as Senator 

KERRY to serve as our Nation’s top diplomat. 

I am particularly proud of the many issues we have 

worked on together, including fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, addressing climate change, and working 

to end human trafficking around the globe. 

I am also grateful that Senator KERRY worked with me to 

establish the first-ever Senate subcommittee dedicated to 

ending violence against and promoting the advancement of 

women and girls around the globe. 

I look forward to continuing to work on these and the 

many other foreign policy challenges facing our country with 

our new Secretary of State, Senator KERRY, and wish him all 

the best in his new position. 

WEDNESDAY, December 10, 2014 

ORDER FOR PRINTING OF SENATE DOCUMENT 

Mr. BENNET. 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 23, 2014. 

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

Æ