TRIBUTES TO HON. MARY L. LANDRIEU 

Mary L. Landrieu 

U.S. SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA 

TRIBUTES 

IN THE CONGRESS OF 

THE UNITED STATES 

UNUM

E PLURIBUS


congress.#15
Mary L. Landrieu 

Courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office 


91907.001
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 2015

S. DOC. 113–33 

Tributes 

Delivered in Congress 

Mary L. Landrieu 

United States Senator 

1997–2015 

÷ 

Compiled under the direction 

of the 

Joint Committee on Printing 

[ iii ] 

CONTENTS 

Page 

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

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

Proceedings in the Senate: 

Tributes by Senators: 

Begich, Mark, of Alaska ............................................................ 12 

Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado ................................................ 6 

Booker, Cory A., of New Jersey ................................................ 11 

Boxer, Barbara, of California .................................................... 32 

Cantwell, Maria, of Washington ............................................... 25 

Cardin, Benjamin L., of Maryland ............................................ 16 

Casey, Robert P., Jr., of Pennsylvania ..................................... 31 

Coats, Daniel, of Indiana ........................................................... 14 

Coons, Christopher A., of Delaware ......................................... 5 

Durbin, Richard J., of Illinois ................................................... 3 

Graham, Lindsey, of South Carolina ........................................ 20 

Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah ........................................................... 30 

Heinrich, Martin, of New Mexico .............................................. 19 

Heitkamp, Heidi, of North Dakota ........................................... 20 

Hirono, Mazie K., of Hawaii ...................................................... 34 

Klobuchar, Amy, of Minnesota .................................................. 10 

Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont ................................................... 29 

Manchin, Joe, III, of West Virginia .......................................... 8 

Markey, Edward J., of Massachusetts ..................................... 18 

Merkley, Jeff, of Oregon ............................................................ 7 

Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island ...................................................... 3 

Reid, Harry, of Nevada .............................................................. 23 

Shaheen, Jeanne, of New Hampshire ...................................... 31 

Stabenow, Debbie, of Michigan ................................................. 32 

Vitter, David, of Louisiana ........................................................ 6 

Warner, Mark R., of Virginia .................................................... 15 

[ v ] 

BIOGRAPHY 

MARY L. LANDRIEU has been fighting and winning for Louisiana since she was first elected to the Louisiana State Legislature at the age of 23. After serving 8 years as a State 

representative and two terms as State treasurer, in 1996 she 

became the first woman from Louisiana elected to a full term 

in the U.S. Senate. Senator LANDRIEU was the chair of the 

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, chair 

of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security 

and a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental 

Affairs and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees. The nonpartisan Congress.org ranked Senator 

LANDRIEU as the tenth most effective legislator in the Senate. 

In 2014, Senator LANDRIEU was appointed chair of the 

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She became the first woman to lead the committee and the first 

Louisiana Senator to hold the gavel since J. Bennett Johnston nearly 20 years prior. The Senate Energy Committee 

sets policy for the Nation’s oil and gas industry, the top job 

creator and economic engine for Louisiana. In 2006, Senator 

LANDRIEU spearheaded the landmark Domenici-Landrieu 

Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA). The bill expanded oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico by more 

than 8 million acres. It also shares the revenues produced 

offshore—an estimated $6 billion annually—with Louisiana 

to fund the State’s 50-year, $50 billion coastal master plan 

to protect Louisiana’s coastal communities from storm surges 

and coastal erosion. 

Senator LANDRIEU was the leading voice in Washington for 

the gulf coast recovery effort. In the wake of Hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita and the failures of the Federal levee system, she secured more than $120 billion in recovery dollars 

and worked extensively to jump start recovery projects. She 

was committed to reforming the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure the Nation’s disaster response arm is 

speedy and effective the next time a disaster strikes the 

United States, be it natural or manmade. 

[ vi ] 

In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Senator LANDRIEU passed the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act, a 

bipartisan, regional approach to address the immense economic and environmental damage to America’s working 

coast. The RESTORE Act directs 80 percent of the Clean 

Water Act penalties paid by BP directly to the gulf coast. 

This represents the largest single investment in environmental restoration in our Nation’s history. Senator 

LANDRIEU helped build a strong, bipartisan, hard-working 

coalition of Congress Members to pass the RESTORE Act 

through Congress with overwhelming support. 

As the former chair of the Small Business Committee, Senator LANDRIEU led the effort to ensure all small businesses 

have access to capital and contracts, superior health insurance at a low cost, and the resources needed to help boost 

our economy and guarantee America’s competitiveness in the 

global marketplace. 

As one of the chairs on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator LANDRIEU was a strong and effective voice 

for Louisiana. In 2012, the Senate appointed Senator 

LANDRIEU chair of the Appropriations Committee’s important 

Subcommittee on Homeland Security. This subcommittee is 

responsible for drafting legislation to fund the Department of 

Homeland Security’s 20 offices and 7 subagencies. The Appropriations Committee is considered the most powerful 

panel on Capitol Hill. From this seat, she fought for Louisiana’s jobs and economic interests and the funding the State 

needed to rebuild from the 2005 and 2008 hurricanes. 

Senator LANDRIEU is married to Frank Snellings of Monroe, LA, and has two children and one grandson. 

[ vii ] 

Farewell to the Senate 

Thursday, December 11, 2014 

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, it is my pleasure to 

take a few minutes on the floor to give a farewell message, 

and I thank you for your courtesies. I begin with a Scripture, 

Philippians 4:7, New American Standard Bible, that reads: 

‘‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, 

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’’ 

Truly for the first time in my adult life I have felt that extraordinary peace about something that was unexpected, but 

is certainly something that I accept. It has really been amazing as a Christian, as an adult, and as a leader to find myself in this place in a time that should be a time of sadness, 

but all I can feel is actual joy. It is quite amazing. 

It has never happened to me before, so I thought it would 

be wonderful to share—with so many of my friends, supporters, family, staff, and colleagues listening in—for a few 

minutes to say that it is absolutely true, and I am a testimony to this extraordinary peace since just a few days before 

the election and since then. I think it is because I feel and 

know that God has called me to another place. 

Before being a Senator, a wife, and a daughter, I am a 

Christian, and my faith really is central to my life. My parents always taught me to put my faith where it belongs—in 

God himself. So it is really with that sense of gratitude and 

joy that I have been given an opportunity to serve my State, 

my region, and my country for now almost 34 years—which 

is quite amazing—having started at a very young age and 

still being relatively young. 

So let me just share some remarks about that time, and 

particularly the time here in the Senate. I want to begin by 

thanking my family, and particularly my extraordinary husband Frank, who has been a partner and, as I said on election night, not only an encouraging and supportive partner 

but one who has literally egged me on. When I wanted to 

quit, he would say, ‘‘No, you have to continue to serve.’’ He 

is not only an accomplished lawyer and professional, but also 

an elected official in his own right. He came from a family 

[ viii ] 

that was dedicated to public service, having both of his parents being very active in party politics—first the Republican 

Party and then the Democratic Party. But that is a whole 

other story. They are both strong civil rights leaders—my 

husband as well—and are always encouraging me and are 

willing to share the burdens of public life as well as sharing 

in the great joy. 

Our son Connor is now 23 years old, and our daughter 

Mary Shannon is now 17. The reason I mention that is because Connor was 5 when we were elected to the Senate. 

Mary Shannon was adopted the 1st year we were here. On 

election night, she looked at me—and she is just so beautiful 

at 17—and she said, ‘‘Mom, it is going to be a little strange. 

I have only known you as a Senator.’’ So I warned her that 

now I am going to be a full-time mom. This is going to be 

a real problem for her. She is not looking forward to it. 

To our new daughter-in-law Emily, and especially to our 

precious little Maddox Parker Snellings, who many people 

saw on election night—now, Maddox gets the distinction. He 

is 10 months old, but he gives me the most joy, and I used 

to keep a picture of him during all my debates. There were 

only three, as you all will remember, but I would keep a picture of him because my staff kept telling me, ‘‘You have to 

smile more.’’ I kept saying, ‘‘But I can’t, because I am really 

aggravated.’’ They said, ‘‘No, you have to smile.’’ So my solution was to put a picture of Maddox on my podium and, of 

course, I then smiled through the whole debate. That is a 

trick for those who will be continuing to debate. 

To my mother and father, who are the light of not only our 

family but the light of our community, the light of the Nation in many ways—they had 9 children, 37 grandchildren, 

and now 6 great-grandchildren. They are in wonderful 

health, they are watching right now, and I can only say they 

are two of the most extraordinary individuals I have ever 

known. Our family is truly blessed by their sacrificial leadership. 

Let me also mention my eight siblings—eight brothers and 

sisters: Mark, Melanie, Michelle, Mitchell, Madeleine, Martin, Melinda, and Maurice, Jr.—all M’s. That is another 

story. There are all of our spouses, my nieces and nephews, 

who campaigned with me up until the last day. My godchild 

Sasha literally knocked on doors with me. I was teaching her 

how to knock on doors before the campaign was over so the 

tradition could carry on in our own neighborhood where we 

[ ix ] 

have lived since I was 5 years old—Broadmoor in New Orleans. 

When I first got here 18 years ago, I literally could not 

find the side door. I didn’t know anything. I wasn’t even expecting to be here. It was kind of like a dream that I got 

here, because I had run for Governor, wanted to be the Governor, and served 16 years in my State. I knew that was 

what I was being called to do—and I see Lamar Alexander— 

to change our education system, to do some coastal work, 

and then I landed here. But I literally knew nothing of how 

to be a Senator. 

I stumbled a great deal in my first years. But I want to 

thank my chiefs of staff, Norma Jane Sabiston, Ron 

Faucheux, Jason Matthews, Jane Campbell, and Don 

Cravins. I had five of the most remarkable chiefs of staff, 

who, with me, learned how to do this job and to do it well. 

We never forget where we came from, and they are still—all 

of them—with me, and all of us are still working to make 

our State the very best that it can be and to make our country the very best that it can be. 

To three staffers who have been with me for almost 20 

years—Alicia Williams is the longest serving office manager, 

I think, in the Senate. She was here when I arrived and 

stayed with me. She was with Bennett Johnston. T. Bradley 

Keith has been with me for 22 years as a former staffer in 

a former life, before I was a Senator, and now as my longtime State director. And Shannon Langlois has been, I think, 

with the Senate for almost 30 years. She is a caseworker. 

She was, again, with Bennett Johnston and stayed with me. 

She has literally given her life to thousands, hundreds of 

thousands of cases in Louisiana and trained every caseworker that I had for 18 years, and they just did phenomenal work. 

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record my 

current staff, all of whom are here—my personal staff, my 

energy staff, and my homeland security staff. 

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be 

printed in the Record, as follows: 

PERSONAL STAFF OF MARY LANDRIEU

Alexander Damato, Alex Sewell, Alicia Williams, Alyson Azodeh, Andrew 

Holleman, Ashley Scott, Christina Jones, Christopher Etienne, DerKirra 

Wilkerson, Don Cravins, Eva Kemp-Melder, Jaren Hill, James ‘‘Wes’’ 

Kungel, Jim Simpson, Katie Lewallen, Lauren Spangler, Leslie Leavoy, 

Libby Whitbeck, Matthew Lehner, Marianna Knister, Megan Blanco. 

[ x ] 

Rob Sawicki, Ross Nodurft, Will Harris, Whitney Reitz, Zach Butterworth, 

Zephranie Buetow, Kelsey Teo, Meghann Morin, Shannon Langlois, T. Bradley Keith, Terrence Lockett, Sherae’ Hunter, Laverne Saulny, Cathleen 

Berthelot, Zach Monroe, Tani Bradford, LeNelle Williford, Michael Jackson, 

Mark Herbert, Darlene Manuel. 

ENERGY COMMITTEE STAFF

Elizabeth ‘‘Liz’’ Craddock, Afton Zaunbrecher, Aisha Johnson, Allen Paul 

Stayman, Bryan Petit, Caroline Bruckner, Clayton Allen, Dan Adamson, 

Darla Ripchensky, David Brooks, David Gillers, Dominic Taylor, Elizabeth 

Weiner, Fayenisha Matthews, Herman Bubba Gesser III, Jan Brunner, 

Jonathon Burpee, Kristen Granier, Lindsay McDonough, Mark Tiner, 

Megan Brewster, Meghan Conklin, Paul Davis, Renae Black, Sallie Derr, 

Sam Edward Fowler, Sa’Rah Hamm, Will Dempster. 

HOMELAND APPROPRIATIONS STAFF

Stephanie Gupta, Drenan Dudley, Scott Nance, Chip Walgren, Colin 

MacDermott, Eric Bader. 

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I want to thank Don 

Cravins, again, as my chief of staff; Liz Craddock, staff director of my Energy Committee; and Stephanie Gupta, head of 

homeland security. I know I am leaving them in good hands 

with what they are going to be doing in the future and with 

the great leadership that remains here. 

I only have a few minutes, so I will just run through a couple of the highlights of some of the accomplishments that I 

am most proud of. I want to take this opportunity to thank 

so many who helped, because the one thing I have learned 

that most certainly is true, is that if you want to accomplish 

really big things here—really great things, generational 

things—you most certainly cannot do that alone. So the first 

thing you need to do is look for a really good partner—and 

I mean a partner that will be with you through thick and 

thin. Sometimes you are lucky enough to find those kinds of 

partners, and I found them on both sides of the aisle. 

The first major piece of legislation I introduced was something that was in my heart for so long, and that was the 

Conservation and Reinvestment Act. The cosponsors of that 

bill, amazingly, were Frank Murkowski from Alaska, Trent 

Lott from Mississippi, John Breaux from Louisiana, and Senator Dianne Feinstein from California. Chris Dodd joined me 

a few days later after we introduced it—and Ron Wyden, 

Chris Bond, John Warner, and Thad Cochran, just to name 

a few. 

At the end of this effort—although this particular bill 

didn’t pass; we missed it literally by inches, and I will describe what that was in a minute—we had 4,500 organizaVerDate Aug 31 2005 13:17 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\91907.TXT KAYNE
[ xi ] 

tions throughout the country, from the Sierra Club to the 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce and everyone in between in a 

broad coalition to fund the Land and Water Conservation 

Fund. Lamar Alexander knows more about this than I could 

ever know, and he will tell you one day the details about the 

Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Udalls and the 

Udalls’ fathers were very instrumental in the creation of the 

Land and Water Conservation Fund. It was a promise made 

but never kept—that this country would set aside about 

$900 million a year to purchase land, to build our parks, and 

to secure recreational opportunities. This country is so 

blessed—more than any on Earth—with the amount of natural resources we have, and we have not lived up to that 

promise. 

So I introduced this bill as a young legislator. John Breaux 

said, ‘‘You don’t even know what you are doing; how are you 

introducing a bill like this?’’ I said, ‘‘I don’t know, but I am 

just going for it because I believe in it.’’ So we never passed 

it, but it has been in part of almost every piece of energy legislation—in pieces and parts since that day we introduced 

that. I am very hopeful that war will go on under Senator 

Murkowski, the daughter of Frank Murkowski, and Maria 

Cantwell, who in many ways got to the Senate because she 

defeated one of the gentlemen who opposed us on this bill 

and used it as a platform to get here. So I know she will be 

committed to finishing the work. 

The bill did three things. It fully funded the Land and 

Water Conservation Fund, a trust fund that will go on for 

generations. It would fully fund coastal restoration, which is 

so important not just to Louisiana, because we are literally 

falling away into the Gulf of Mexico, but it will help Sheldon 

Whitehouse in his work. It will help Dick Durbin along the 

Great Lakes, and it will help Cory Booker in New Jersey. If 

you allocate the funding correctly, it will be grants that these 

coastal communities can use until we figure out how to clean 

our atmosphere and how to stop the tremendous pressures 

that are coming on our coast. Louisiana knows this. We have 

experienced the worst disasters literally in the history of our 

country, and they are only getting worse. I will talk about 

that more in a minute. 

But it was because we had laid the groundwork for CARA, 

Pete Domenici literally felt so sorry for me—he knew how 

hard we had worked and the coalition was so disappointed 

when we lost—that he directed, literally with the stroke of 

a pen, $1 billion to the gulf coast in the energy bill for 2005. 

[ xii ] 

That money was divided 50 percent to Louisiana and 50 percent to the other States. 

Now, I can promise everyone here that for the $500 million 

that went to Louisiana, we can account for every penny of 

it. We know exactly where it went, and we put that down as 

a downpayment to restoring our coast, which doesn’t just belong to us—it belongs to the whole Nation. This is the greatest, the seventh largest delta on the planet. It is what Thomas Jefferson leveraged the whole entire Treasury of the 

United States to purchase. It is something worth fighting for. 

We would not be a country without the Mississippi Delta, 

and we could never have found our way west if we couldn’t 

have supplied the great center of this Nation with the commerce they needed. 

Every State along this river—19 of them—use this river 

and understand what I am talking about. Amy Klobuchar 

understands this. She is at the top of this river, and I am 

at the bottom, and we have talked a lot about how important 

that corridor is. That needs to continue. 

Then there was the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, 

which I finally passed with Pete Domenici’s help, who was 

my dear friend and one of the most wonderful leaders I have 

ever worked with. He came from a family with eight children. We had nine, and we are both Catholic and came from 

the same sort of background. He served with such passion. 

So he joined with me in passing the Gulf of Mexico Energy 

Security Act, which finally secured a permanent stream of 

revenue for coastal restoration and protection. 

But as Lamar Alexander knows, it left out the land and 

water, and it left out wildlife. We just couldn’t lift it all, so 

that needs to be corrected. 

Finally, there is the RESTORE Act, which I worked on 

with my colleagues when the BP oil spill killed 11 people in 

the gulf and spilled 5 million barrels of oil in the gulf. 

Thanks go to Barbara Boxer, this extraordinary woman who 

has been a partner with me. We think very differently about 

the world. We see things very differently. California is very 

different from Louisiana. But I will say one thing about Barbara Boxer. If I had to be in a foxhole with someone, I would 

want to be with her because she never stops fighting. She 

and I are very much alike in that regard. Once we set our 

minds to something there is no dividing us. 

People asked why did I send her money for her reelection? 

Why did I raise so much money from Louisiana? I said that 

I would do it again because when no one would stand up— 

[ xiii ] 

well, not no one, but if she hadn’t stood up when that BP oil 

spill went down, and said, ‘‘I am chair of this committee and 

I believe the gulf coast deserves this funding,’’ we just 

wouldn’t have had it. It is as simple as that. People do not 

know how powerful a chairman is here. When a chairman 

makes up their mind and they say this is what we are going 

to do, the rest of the committee, for the most part, goes 

along. And so Barbara said that. 

Senator Vitter, who is the ranking member on that committee, put his shoulder to the wheel, and we were able to 

get—well, it is still in court, but we think—a serious downpayment to recover from one of the great ecological disasters 

of our State, of our country, which is the loss of the gulf 

coast. This just isn’t in Louisiana. This is Texas and Mississippi, and it is going to affect parts of the whole country. 

But we are on the mend. 

I came here to do that work. I came to find money. I found 

it, and we are going to continue that work. I am thrilled to 

work with so many of you to get that done. 

On education—Lamar has to leave, but I am glad he is 

here because I found a great soulmate in Lamar Alexander— 

former Secretary of Education, former Governor, a Presidential candidate, and absolutely extraordinarily committed 

to finding a better way for our children in America to be educated. As proud as we are of the public school system, at the 

turn of the century, when people in the world were wondering how to build the middle class and lots of countries 

were struggling with how to do that, America knew. America 

knew that if you educated your citizens—women, boys, and 

girls; not just boys, which is what half the world still does, 

which is a tragedy—if we open up our schools for universal, 

free education, along with other things, it would lift your 

country to greatness unsurpassed in the history of the world. 

What breaks my heart is to walk into schools today—and 

Mark Warner knows this because he was Governor of Virginia—and see children’s eyes just completely dulled, sitting 

there completely bored, teachers who are just sort of going 

through the motions. It breaks my heart because I know that 

not only does it limit their lives but it limits the potential 

of our Nation. 

With Lamar Alexander and a handful of Democrats, I was 

proud to work with Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush 

to pass a series of laws. Evan Bayh comes to mind, Joe 

Lieberman, John Breaux, and a group of us stood up and 

said, ‘‘It is time to stop sending money to the States without 

[ xiv ] 

accountability.’’ If we need to send money, we need to hold 

States accountable, and we need to give opportunities for 

choice to parents and public charter schools. 

I am reluctant to go too far on vouchers. You have heard 

my speech on that. You heard Senator Feinstein’s speech on 

that. But both of us have agreed to support some kinds of 

strategic vouchers that help poor kids get out of failing 

schools until we can fix them. 

Most important, I support high-performing public charter 

schools, and I will continue to fight that for the rest of my 

days. I thank all of you who helped on that and particularly 

Tom Carper on the Democratic side and Lamar Alexander. 

Cory Booker has been an amazing leader and will hopefully 

continue on that. I thank Dick Durbin, who is on Appropriations. I had to twist his arm a little bit on some of it, but 

he ended up coming around and has been an amazing fighter 

for the right kinds of public schools that serve the children 

first and the bureaucracy and administration second. I respect teachers. I respect administrators. But our schools 

should work for the children and their families who so desperately want them to have a great education. 

The third issue I wish to speak about, which is a legacy 

issue, is adoption. I hope I can get through this without tearing up. I don’t know why I have always had such passion for 

this issue. 

My mother had nine children without one single problem. 

As a young child, I remember my aunt adopted two children. 

I think it might have been that; I can’t remember exactly. I 

started to think about all the children in the world who don’t 

have parents. Maybe I was just always so proud when I 

filled out those forms in Catholic school. I can remember sitting there filling them out: Are your parents divorced or 

married? I loved checking ‘‘married.’’ How many siblings do 

you have? I loved putting ‘‘eight.’’ I was always so proud of 

my family. 

I thought, what do children without parents do? I just 

could not imagine. So I got very passionate about it. I ended 

up, of all things, marrying an orphan. My husband was 

adopted out of an orphanage. So I thought, yes, this is going 

in the right direction. I thought I would adopt children. I 

thought he could not say no since he himself was adopted, 

and so this would work out. Sure enough, we ended up 

adopting two children. 

[ xv ] 

But this was my passion before I met my husband and before I even thought about adopting. It was as if God put this 

in my heart, so I have taken it and carried it. 

I thank Dave Camp; Jim Oberstar, who is deceased; Tom 

Bliley from Virginia, who is a great leader among us; Larry 

Craig, who is no longer here, who served as my cochair; and 

Senator Jesse Helms. Amazingly, I didn’t know to be afraid 

of Jesse Helms; I thought he was a really nice guy. Later, 

everybody had to tell me how hard he was to get along with. 

But I went up to him, and I thought he would surely want 

to help because he had adopted a child. I don’t think a lot 

of people realize that. Sure enough he did, and we passed a 

great treaty together that serves as the model for international adoption today. Joe Biden was the ranking member 

on the committee. With Jesse Helms’ and Joe Biden’s support, we passed a great treaty years ago, and we are still in 

the process of making that possible and working it through. 

The accomplishments are really quite long. I will only say 

that Bob Casey worked on and took up the cause of the 

adoption tax credit when he got here—I am thrilled and hope 

we can keep it. I would like to say to Amy Klobuchar how 

much I appreciate her agreeing to step in and take over the 

leadership of the Adoption Caucus on this side and Roy 

Blunt, who I think will take it up on the Republican side and 

continue this great work. 

There are over 100,000 children who are waiting for families in the United States. There are over 500,000 children in 

foster care. These children think it is their fault they are 

there, and it is not. It is not their fault that their family disintegrated around them. It is not their fault that they got 

pregnant at 11 and were kicked out of their house. Instead 

of the family wrapping that child in their arms and helping 

them to grow, they just kicked them out on the street. It is 

not their fault. 

We need to realize that God does not make trash. He 

never has, and he never will. Everybody he has made has a 

purpose and dignity, and we need to honor that and do better work. I have spent a lot of time here on it. I am going 

to continue to do so. I will never stop working on it. I am 

very proud of the work we have done. 

On energy very quickly and then finally disaster recovery. 

I couldn’t have been prouder when I became the chair of this 

committee. It was quite a miracle. I didn’t expect it. I never 

thought I would last long enough to become the chair because there were so many people ahead of me. It kind of 

[ xvi ] 

worked out when Max Baucus left to go to China and Tim 

Johnson was retiring that it fell to me. It has been my great 

joy for 9 months to serve as chair, with Lisa Murkowski as 

my ranking member. Of course, I worked with her father. I 

didn’t sit next to him because I was a junior member, but I 

worked with him closely, and it has been wonderful working 

with her. I am so proud that Maria Cantwell will step up 

and take that leadership. I know the two of them work beautifully together. They do see the world differently, but they 

are two women who know how to compromise and who will 

be respectful of each other and find a way for our country 

to move forward. 

I can tell you all that in my whole life—which isn’t that 

long—it has been a pretty good run in public office. There 

has never been a time when America has been closer to energy independence. What that means to our country is beyond description. We don’t have to listen to parts of the 

world that don’t hold our values. We can lift up our country. 

We can move forward. It has to be with a combination of fossil fuels, weaning our way to a greener, cleaner environment, 

and manufacturing right here in America. 

I hope you all will put down the swords and pick up the 

plow and really plow together because this is an amazing opportunity for our country. I sure hope we don’t miss it. It is 

going to benefit and make the whole country, not just our 

part of the country, more prosperous. 

People desperately want to move up into the middle class 

and stay there and not feel so fragile and feel as if they can 

have the manufacturing jobs and good energy jobs and really 

eliminate some of the geopolitical nightmares we have been 

in, fighting wars for oil. It has to come to an end. 

Finally, I will say a word about disaster recovery. When I 

got to the Senate, my husband and I were looking at each 

other saying: How did we even end up here? We had no idea. 

When Katrina hit, it became very clear that this is why I 

needed to be here. 

I had been an appropriator since I was 23 years old. I 

knew a little bit about budgets. I knew a little bit about how 

the system worked. I knew how the State and local governments depended on the Federal Government for so much 

funding. I understood the power of HUD and the power of 

housing and the power of building schools and levees and the 

Corps of Engineers. So I was perfectly positioned to be able 

to lead the effort for my State, and they desperately needed 

[ xvii ] 

a leader. I wasn’t perfect. I made lots of mistakes. But I 

wasn’t afraid to try because that is all you can do. 

The devastation was so great and it was so unbelievable. 

Eighty percent of the east bank of the city and much of Jefferson Parish—not quite as bad as New Orleans—and all of 

St. Bernard—67,000 people in St. Bernard lost everything. 

Everyone in the Lower Ninth Ward lost everything, which is 

like a small city unto itself. In New Orleans east, which is 

like a small city unto itself, 60,000 people lost every school, 

every house. It was unbelievable. 

I say to my colleagues: Thank you for being there for us. 

I know I aggravated you to death. I know I never stopped 

asking. But you were the only hope because there was just 

no way these communities could recover. New Orleans has 

been there for 300 years. You have heard me say this: We 

didn’t move down there recently to go sunbathing or to build 

condos; we have been down there for 300 years. The city is 

going to stay there. The region is going to stay there. Had 

this government just invested a little bit of the money back 

that we have given it over time—from our energy resources, 

from our manufacturing, from the wealth we have created 

along that great mouth of the river—if the country had just 

given us a little bit of money—$500 million here, $500 million there—and built levees that wouldn’t have broken in 52 

places, we wouldn’t have had $140 billion in damage. 

So I went to Robert Byrd because President Bush was not 

that forward-leaning—I will just leave it at that. There will 

be a lot more in my book about it, but I will just leave it at 

that, not very forward-leaning. The person I went to was 

Robert Byrd. In his old age, he was so wise. He just looked 

at me. He didn’t say much at that time, but he just took my 

hand and he said, ‘‘I will be there with you.’’ 

He was the chair of the Appropriations Committee, so that 

meant something. He helped me write things in a bill that 

could probably never be possible today. That was when 

chairmen understood the power to help people to heal 

wounds and to bring hope and to be compassionate. That is 

what government is there to do. If government is not there 

when you have lost everything, then what in the heck is the 

use of having it? 

So we hope we will be able to repay this country for the 

investments that have been made, and we will. We will do 

our best. With all of the people who come to New Orleans 

and all the conventions that come—and we hope we bring joy 

and happiness when people come—we hope to pay our way 

[ xviii ] 

and to pay this back over time for what you have done to 

help us. We are doing a good job of helping ourselves by 

planning better, doing more smart-growth, sustainable development, building our levees to the point where they won’t 

break again, and we will continue to do that. 

So those are some of the legacy pieces I have worked on. 

It is kind of amazing that these were the things that were 

in my heart when I was a little girl. I didn’t learn this when 

I was a Senator. I can remember taking a bus when I was 

in the eighth grade down to the coast and looking at 

LaFourche Parish for the first time, and for a girl from the 

poor part of uptown, I kept looking at the nuns who took me, 

and I said, ‘‘What world is this?’’ I had no idea about Bayou 

LaFourche. 

When I got to be a Senator, I remembered LaFourche, the 

bayou, and I remembered how fragile it looked to me even 

as a child, and I thought, if I can do anything to save this 

place, I will. I have spent a lot of my time saving it, and it 

is stronger now. It is still not completely safe, but it is much 

stronger now. 

I tutored in public school. My passion started when the 

nuns of Ursuline sent me to tutor in a public school, and the 

little girl whom I tutored, who was my age, couldn’t read. I 

can remember going home to my mother and saying, ‘‘This 

is the strangest thing. I just met a little girl. She is my age, 

and she can’t read. Mama, is that possible, that children 

don’t know how to read?’’ 

I can remember her sitting me down and explaining to me 

why some children couldn’t read, and I said, ‘‘That doesn’t 

seem right to me.’’ I made up my mind then that I would 

work. 

The reason I say this is because there are a lot of young 

people listening to this, and I just want you to know, just listen to your heart because God puts these things in your 

heart at very young ages. If you don’t block it out, if you are 

not cynical and if you hope and live openly, those dreams can 

come true. Then you can make a profound difference in rebuilding a school system, which I am continuing to work on, 

or make sure every orphan in the world knows that they are 

loved and that we are going to work hard to find them a 

family; to build this great gulf coast, where I spent my life 

growing up as a child and knowing that it is worth saving. 

It may not be as sexy as the west coast or as prosperous as 

the east coast, but the gulf coast is really worth fighting for. 

[ xix ] 

It is a very special place in our country. I learned to love it 

as a child, and I will fight for it as an adult. 

Finally, let me just say a few thank yous in closing. A 

thank you to my mentor Lindy Boggs, who coached me every 

step of the way; to my mentor John Breaux, who got me into 

this gig in the first place. 

I thank Bennett Johnston, who taught me about being a 

proud member of the Energy Committee; Senator Tom 

Daschle, who saved my skin more times than I can tell you; 

Kent Conrad, who taught me about the budget; Chris John 

and Jim McCrery and Richard Baker in my delegation, who 

were Democrats and Republicans—we worked together to do 

amazing things. I also thank Cedric Richmond, who still 

works closely with me, and Charles Boustany, whom I admire a lot. I thank other Members who are no longer here: 

Olympia Snowe—we were the first two women to chair a 

major committee—well, actually a minor committee, the 

Small Business Committee; and Lisa [Murkowski] and I 

were the first to chair and be a ranking member of a major 

committee. I couldn’t have worked with two more remarkable women. I thank Senator Joe Lieberman, who was a 

leader of the DLC and a great mentor of mine on foreign policy issues; Senator Ted Stevens, who was as grumpy as could 

be but really did take me under his wing and teach me a lot; 

Senator Danny Inouye; Senator Robert Byrd. I am going to 

put others into the Record: Senators Mikulski, Carper, 

Heitkamp, Manchin, Cantwell, Begich, Pryor, and Hagan. 

I want to say a special word to the Black Caucus. I represent 30 percent African Americans in my State. You know, 

all groups of people are hard to represent, and my State is 

so diverse, and I have tried so hard to be respectful of all the 

different groups in my State. 

I thank the Black Caucus—both the local elected officials 

and the National Black Caucus—for being such a great partner with me and helping me to understand about compassion, forgiveness, faithfulness, and for trust. Their spiritual 

strength is so amazing. I thank them very much for coming 

down to help me. 

I thank labor, who brought me here. They encouraged me 

to run when I was 23 years old, and I tried to never leave 

them. Only 8 percent of my State is now organized. I have 

never left them. I think you should leave with the people 

who brought you to the dance, and they most certainly did. 

I thank Harry Reid, who has been an amazing friend to 

me and who, most important, has been a great friend to my 

[ xx ] 

family. He has honored us in so many small ways, and I just 

love him for his tenacity and his leadership. 

I thank you all. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out. It has 

been a joy, but I know God is calling me to a different place. 

I am not the least bit sad and I am not the least bit afraid 

because it has been a remarkable opportunity to serve with 

all of you, and I thank you very much. 

(Applause, Senators rising.) 

TRIBUTES 

TO 

MARY L. LANDRIEU 

[ 3 ] 

Proceedings in the Senate 

TUESDAY, December 9, 2014 

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I would like to take a few minutes to salute my colleagues who are departing the Senate 

at the end of this year with the conclusion of the 113th Congress: Mark Begich of Alaska, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, 

Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, 

Tom Harkin of Iowa, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, MARY LANDRIEU of Louisiana, Carl 

Levin of Michigan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jay Rockefeller 

of West Virginia, Mark Udall of Colorado, and John Walsh 

of Montana. 

They have all worked hard, ceaselessly giving their energy 

and considerable time and service to their constituents, to 

their home States and to our country. I want to thank them 

for their service and for their kindness to me over many 

years in so many cases. In particular, I want to say a few 

words about these colleagues. . . . 

MARY LANDRIEU and I also came to the Senate together in 

1997. We served together on the Appropriations Committee, 

where she has been an extraordinary advocate for Louisiana, 

particularly after Hurricane Katrina. In fact, her efforts have 

been so profoundly influential in her home State, she is one 

that we all look to as a model for what it is to be an advocate 

for your constituents. She has done it so well. . . . 

Along with all of my other colleagues who are leaving us 

at the conclusion of the 113th Congress, let me thank them 

for their service, their dedication to improving the lives of 

Americans, and on a very personal level for their friendship. 

I wish them all well. 

WEDNESDAY, December 10, 2014 

Mr. DURBIN. I have some tributes here for my colleagues 

who are retiring, leaving the Senate. It is a lengthy list of 

tributes. . . . 

[ 4 ] 

I will close by mentioning the one whose fate was determined the last, and that was MARY LANDRIEU of Louisiana. 

She has been a great Senator for Louisiana. She worked 

harder and achieved more for that State than, obviously, the 

people of that State realized. There wasn’t an issue that 

came before us that MARY didn’t stand up and say, ‘‘Now let 

me tell you how that affects Louisiana,’’ and usually make 

a request which was fulfilled. 

Let me add one other grace note when it comes to her personal and public life. MARY and her husband have adopted 

two children. They are the light of their lives. Her dedication 

to the cause of adopted children has really made a difference 

not just to the United States but in the world. I am sure she 

didn’t get a lot of political reward for it, but thank goodness 

she put a big part of her life and her public life into standing 

up for the rights of adopted children and adoptive parents, 

encouraging more and more, so the kids would have a loving 

home as part of their lives. It was just one of the things that 

MARY worked on, but it was one of the things I will remember. I am going to miss her and her service to the U.S. Senate. 

MARY bleeds Louisiana. Her father is the legendary statesman Moon Landrieu, former New Orleans mayor, HUD Secretary under President Jimmy Carter, and judge of Louisiana’s Fourth Circuit Court. Her brother, Mitch, is the current mayor of New Orleans. 

MARY—the eldest of the nine siblings—learned important 

political lessons early. She was taunted in early grade school 

about her father’s pro-civil rights stands in the 1960s. Those 

experiences taught her that taking the right position sometimes makes you unpopular—but you do it anyway. 

MARY was only 23 when she entered the Louisiana House 

of Representatives in 1980. She went on to serve as a member of her State’s senate. 

MARY is a formidable fighter for Louisiana. In her State’s 

darkest hours, during Hurricane Katrina and in the aftermath of that terrible catastrophe, she stood strong. She was 

exactly the right person for Louisiana. More than any other 

single official, she deserves the credit for directing billions of 

dollars in relief and rebuilding her hometown and home 

State. 

Governor Bobby Jindal’s Secretary of Administration had 

this to say about MARY LANDRIEU: ‘‘She’s relentless; once she 

starts, she will not stop. And once she’s on your side, she’s 

on your side.’’ 

[ 5 ] 

This is what St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain remembers about Katrina: ‘‘The very first federal representative we had on the ground after Katrina was MARY

LANDRIEU . . . when water was still in our houses and neighborhoods. . . . She spoke to my deputies and offered assistance to them.’’ 

Perhaps the best description of MARY LANDRIEU was offered by her mentor, former Senator John Breaux, who calls 

her ‘‘a pit bull with Louisiana charm.’’ 

In 2009, when Hurricane Katrina was just a dim, bad 

memory for some, Senator LANDRIEU made sure the stimulus 

bill included a provision that ended up allowing the State to 

rebuild Charity Hospital, the cornerstone of health care for 

many low-income New Orleans families. 

Senator LANDRIEU has been a champion of the energy industry—so crucial to the economy of her State and her Nation. She has fought to preserve Social Security and Medicare and other safety net programs that provide dignity and 

security for so many. She has fought to defend voting rights, 

women’s rights, and children’s rights. She has earned a spot 

in heaven with her work to promote adoption. She provided 

a crucial vote to pass the Affordable Care Act, knowing full 

well that it would cost her politically. If that doesn’t earn her 

a spot in heaven, it will at least earn her a place in history 

as a profile in courage. 

With her political genes and determination, I know that 

MARY LANDRIEU will continue to be a force in Louisiana and 

American politics for years to come. While I will miss seeing 

her every day in this Senate, I look forward to seeing her 

fight for what is right for many more years. It has been an 

honor to serve with her. 

Mr. COONS. . . . As I close, I would also like to thank those 

of our colleagues who will be leaving the Senate after the 

New Year. 

It is an incredible privilege to work in this Chamber and 

to represent the people. Every day I am awed by the dedication and talent of many of my colleagues, public servants 

who come to work to fight for their States and their government. 

To those who are ending their service in the Senate, know 

that I value your friendship and partnership. It has been an 

honor to work with you, and I thank you for all you have 

done for our Nation. 

[ 6 ] 

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. 

THURSDAY, December 11, 2014 

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise to thank Senator 

LANDRIEU for her tireless service in the U.S. Senate to our 

State and to the country. I have had the pleasure of knowing 

MARY for a long time. She was in her second year of service 

in the Senate when I first came to Washington to the U.S. 

House, but it is far longer than that, probably longer than 

anyone in this Chamber realizes. Both sets of my grandparents live all of 3 blocks from where MARY grew up, and 

I grew up all of 10 blocks from there. MARY and my brother 

Jeff were grammar school classmates starting at kindergarten. 

Of course, here in the Senate I had the honor of working 

with MARY on so many important issues and challenges. 

From the moment we worked together on key Louisiana 

issues, we determined on those issues to put aside any partisan concerns when those crucial priorities were at stake. 

As she alluded to, the most challenging and trying time in 

all of that experience was just a few months after I first 

came to the Senate when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 

struck. Neither of us could have ever imagined facing the 

challenges our State and Mississippi and others faced and 

facing the challenges we faced in the Senate trying to respond in a robust and full and responsible way. I am sure 

it was the most trying work for both of us in our careers. 

Louisiana faced unprecedented disaster and desperation, 

and that brought us together all the more to work for those 

crucial Louisiana needs and priorities. We traveled together, 

of course, to see the damage and meet with our neighbors 

and local leaders all around the State. Her staff and mine 

worked directly together around the clock, really, for months, 

sometimes in my office, sometimes in hers, always with the 

same goal of doing everything possible to help our neighbors 

[ 7 ] 

and Louisiana citizens get through that disaster and get 

through to a full recovery. 

Those trials, of course, didn’t end with Katrina and Rita. 

There were other similar challenges which brought us together and on which MARY was a distinguished leader. She 

was always a champion for domestic energy production, and 

Louisiana will enjoy a far fairer share of oil and gas revenue 

under the legislation commonly referred to as DomeniciLandrieu. 

After the infamous BP oilspill in 2010, MARY pushed for 

the RESTORE Act legislation to dedicate revenue from the 

fines to oilspill recovery in the affected areas. 

As Louisiana fights continually against the loss of coastal 

wetlands, major restoration work is moving forward because 

of MARY’s years of hard work directly related to that. 

Due to MARY’s strong support of our Nation’s military, our 

fighting men and women are better off. The bases in Louisiana, which are important to our communities and to the 

Nation’s defense, continue to have what they need for their 

vital mission. Our veterans face challenges and most recently faced the crying need for new health care clinics in 

Louisiana, and MARY helped make those finally happen, finally move forward, including pushing the case fervently and 

directly to administration officials. 

In a very personal and dramatic way, MARY is enthusiastic 

in promoting children’s welfare and supporting adoption. Her 

dedication internationally was recognized when Russia 

banned her travel after her direct and well-founded criticism 

of Russia’s action to curb adoption by Americans. 

In all of this work, one thing is always crystal clear—certainly crystal clear to me—with Senator LANDRIEU: Louisiana has always been first in her heart and her top motivation, and she has had a distinguished career of service in the 

Senate on all of those issues I mentioned and many more. 

All of us in Louisiana give her our sincere thanks for that. 

Thank you. Mr. President, I yield the floor. 

Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I will just say a couple 

words before I turn it over to the Chair and to my colleague 

from West Virginia. 

When I think of MARY LANDRIEU, I think of the most tenacious person in the Senate standing here, holding court, 

fighting for her cause, fighting for her values, fighting for 

her State. I think particularly of the hard work she did on 

flood insurance, on this issue that was so critical to the State 

of Louisiana and very important to my State of Oregon and 

[ 8 ] 

to our other States but particularly Louisiana. She was determined. Every time I was on the floor, she would say: Jeff, 

have you done this and Jeff, have you done that. She would 

grab someone else, and she would say: And now we have to 

do this. That is how legislation gets done. 

Senator LANDRIEU really drives things through the Senate. 

It is one thing to be here and express your ideas in kind of 

a social manner—well, wouldn’t this be nice or wouldn’t that 

be nice; it is another to stand here and say: I am going to 

make this happen because it is important to my constituents 

and important to our Nation. I have seen MARY LANDRIEU do 

that on issue after issue, and certainly for all who came in 

with my class 6 years ago, it has been a wonderful education 

on how to make maximum use and effectiveness from this 

privilege of serving in the Senate. 

Thank you for everything you have done, MARY LANDRIEU. 

It is an honor to serve with you, and we are going to miss 

you greatly. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia. 

Mr. MANCHIN. All of us came here at one time or another, and the first impression you have is how they kind of 

ingratiate you and bring you into the fold. I am often 

asked—I am sure most of our colleagues are asked the same 

question—whom do you consider your best and closest 

friend, with whom do you associate and with whom do you 

feel comfortable? In any category, without a doubt, it is always MARY LANDRIEU. We come from a similar background—rural States. We come from the same culture— 

hard-working people who basically don’t ask for an awful lot 

and give a lot more back. Both of us come from large Catholic families, and we have an awful lot in common. We and 

our spouses have bonded, and we have done things together. 

That was the way I heard the place used to work, that you 

build relationships and there is camaraderie and you share 

dinners at people’s homes. It is such a different atmosphere 

when that happens because you really do forge a bond that 

is so much missing in this body. 

Let me say one other thing. The great losers in this whole 

election process we just had were the great people of Louisiana. They lost a champion. They lost a fighter. That is 

what Senator Merkley said. There is nobody who said: I 

think you ought to be careful about that because I think 

MARY is interested. We knew there could be problems. 

[ 9 ] 

With that being said, the best thing to do is to go talk to 

MARY on this subject or issue, and we would work through 

it. How do we compromise and bring everybody together? 

And MARY would say, ‘‘We will work through it.’’ 

Coming from an energy State and MARY having an energy 

State and the two of us being Democrats, on our side sometimes our individual caucus is not as large as we would like 

for it to be—let’s put it that way—but we talk an awful lot 

about how we are moving an energy policy. As MARY said, 

we need it all in this country. We should be totally energy 

independent. We shouldn’t be looking to other countries and 

buying their products and giving them the resources to be 

used against us, and we don’t have to do that. We can do it 

in a sensible and balanced way with the economy and the 

environment. MARY has always had the economy and environment first and foremost. That type of balance is hard to 

find, and it is definitely hard to find in Washington. 

So I just want her to know that there is nobody who is 

going to miss MARY LANDRIEU more than me, being in this 

body, going shoulder to shoulder with her and trying to bring 

an even keel to this whole process. 

MARY, I feel for the people of Louisiana. I truly do. I am 

hoping somebody can come along and have the same spirit 

and fight that you have, but no one is going to be able to replace you and what you have been able to do and what you 

have been able to make us aware of. 

My little State was involved in helping after Katrina, helping the State of Louisiana. The State of West Virginia came 

immediately. When that happened, we were so proud to be 

part of that, and we now have a lot of people from Louisiana 

living in West Virginia today because of that effort. 

There has been a wonderful relationship and a wonderful 

friendship, but more important, there has been a wonderful 

person who has graced the Halls in this tremendous body for 

18 years who will not be replaced in this Senate and this 

body. Again, the people of Louisiana should be extremely 

proud to have someone who is a fighter, who gave every drop 

she had of public service for her State and never forgot 

where she come from. So with that, that is a tremendous 

tribute in itself. 

I say to my dear friend, thank you for your service on behalf of the great State of Louisiana. Thank you for all the 

important work you have done for our country. God bless 

you, and I love you. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota. 

[ 10 ] 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, you can see that MARY

LANDRIEU has a lot of friends on both sides of the aisle, and 

that is because MARY has stood up and been a mentor to so 

many of us. She taught us how to fight for our own States 

because that is what she has done every day for Louisiana. 

I was thinking about our States earlier. MARY mentioned 

in her talk about how Minnesota is at the top of the Mississippi and Louisiana is at the bottom and how hard we 

fought for river issues and barges and locks and dams. We 

will actually have success at the end of the year with the 

ABLE Act, which is really important for other reasons, but 

we are going to finally start the funding for lock and dam 

improvements, and that kind of work would not have happened without MARY and the work and support she has provided with the RIVER Act. So a river doesn’t divide us, it 

unites us, and MARY is a uniter and brings people together 

on so many issues. 

First of all, MARY established the Congressional Coalition 

on Adoption Institute. At some of the events she literally 

brings the angels—people who have adopted children in the 

most dire circumstances—to Washington to celebrate these 

adoptions and talk about the policy changes that need to be 

made. 

For anyone who has adopted one of the foster kids or 

brought them into an office and adopted them—the reason 

you can do that is because MARY LANDRIEU started that program so that foster children, who otherwise would not have 

the connections and wherewithal to be able to get a job for 

the summer, spring, or fall in Washington, DC, would be 

able to work, and then she has all of these kids to her house 

every single year. 

MARY doesn’t just fight for adopted kids at home, she 

fights for them all over the world. I would hate to be the bureaucrat in Guatemala when MARY LANDRIEU shows up to 

fight them off. I see her staff, and some of them were probably with her on that trip. I think she knew the name of 

every child who was waiting to be adopted in Guatemala. 

How can we forget the meeting with the Russians when 

they started to use these poor little children as pawns in a 

political game? MARY stood up to them. As a result, as many 

of us know, she has now been banned from the country of 

Russia. I don’t think everybody knows that the reason she 

was banned was because she was fighting for these kids who 

were waiting to be adopted. Many of the parents are in my 

State, and they actually have siblings and they are trying to 

[ 11 ] 

adopt the other sibling. That is a very sad story and MARY

stood up for them. In the words of her dad, Putin didn’t like 

it, and so MARY was banned. I guess that is not where she 

is going on vacation after we are done here. 

The other thing about MARY I will never forget—how kind 

and sweet and fun she is for her friends in the Senate—is 

the time when we had a bet on the Saints-Vikings game in 

the playoffs. We bet some food from our States. If anybody 

remembers that amazing playoff game, the Vikings lost, and 

I had to wear a Drew Brees jersey and walk over to MARY’s 

office with a pot of gumbo, which is really hard to make. 

When I got to her office, all of her New Orleans press was 

there, and when she tried that gumbo, she said, ‘‘This is 

Minnesota gumbo. This gumbo just needs something special.’’ 

She got out an enormous bottle of hot sauce from her desk 

drawer—as only a Louisiana Senator would have—and 

dumped it in my Minnesota gumbo. That is the spice that 

MARY has added to all of our lives. 

What we have learned from her we will never forget. As 

I said, she is a role model for so many of us on how to fight 

for our States. 

We see it in the eyes of those little adopted children and 

the great success we are starting to see on the coast because 

of all the recovery you brought to your State. We know you 

will never be forgotten and we want you to keep fighting. 

Thank you, MARY. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey. 

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I can’t leave the floor without speaking to MARY. MARY has been such an incredible inspiration to me. I have been in the Senate now for 13 

months, and I have had a number of conversations with her, 

but the best way to teach somebody is to show somebody. 

Senator LANDRIEU is prodigiously persuasive, tirelessly tenacious, doggedly determined. Just to watch Senator 

LANDRIEU is to watch what every American should hope for 

in a Senator—someone who is unyielding in their work and 

service to them. 

If you look at the myriad interests in the State of Louisiana, I was amazed by what I saw first hand. MARY stood 

up and fought for the people who were loud and ornery but 

still had a good cause as well as the people who were voiceless and humble. MARY stood up for them. MARY stood up for 

people in her community who were from every different 

[ 12 ] 

background and from every different race. MARY stood up for 

them in a way that is a model to my State. 

I heard my senior Senator mention you by name about 

how essential you were when my State had its back against 

the wall and was crushed by a superstorm. When there were 

battles to get my State’s funding, and MARY had no skin in 

that game, my senior Senator mentioned you as a champion 

for New Jersey and that is what blows me away about you. 

I yearn for a government that has moral courage, more 

than we have now, people who will risk popularity for purpose and will risk substance for some kind of celebrity. Senator LANDRIEU has done things against her political interests, but for the people. That is why I have a great deal of 

reverence for you and why I travel down to your State. 

Now the Senator knows this because I must have said it 

hundreds of times when I was down in Louisiana, that that 

is my ancestral State. I will end by saying this: My 

grandaddy was born in Monroe. He was born poor. As my 

family likes to say, he was so poor he couldn’t afford to be 

poor, he was po, P–O. He was born Black at a time of immense segregation, when people who walked the hallways of 

power couldn’t give a damn about him. He taught me love 

for your State, and more important, the urgency to stand up 

and fight for those people that most folks won’t fight for. 

I am telling you right now, my grandaddy died during my 

first big election, but if he knew you, he would be so proud 

of your service. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska. 

Mr. BEGICH. I wish to echo all the comments people said 

today, but I have to be honest. When I was elected, I was 

scared of MARY. People said very politely that you should 

check with MARY to see if she has an issue with something. 

I was terrified of what people told me she would do if I was 

not on her side. 

If you remember, when I came in, we doubled the Oil and 

Gas Caucus in the Democratic caucus by me just joining, and 

so we had an immediate connection, which was unique in 

itself. Our connection was not just that, but also, as MARY

mentioned, her mentor, Lindy Boggs, and our family knows 

the Boggses very well. 

I can still remember a call I got when I won my mayor’s 

race in 2003 from this woman in Louisiana. My staff came 

[ 13 ] 

in and said some woman from Louisiana is calling, and we 

don’t know who she is, but she wants to talk to you, and so 

I said, ‘‘OK.’’ I took the phone call, and it was Lindy Boggs. 

You know how she would start a conversation with ‘‘Hi, 

darlin’, I just want to check in with you and see how you are 

doing, and congratulations.’’ Then she said, ‘‘One moment, 

someone is at my door.’’ She came back and said, ‘‘The exterminator is here,’’ and that is classic Lindy Boggs. 

What was so real about her—and I can see it in MARY’s 

style—and that is she is real. The work MARY has done—and 

I didn’t know it until I came to the Senate—for foster kids 

and adoption is remarkable. Amy Klobuchar went into great 

detail about that, and it shows that it is not always about 

the policy and fights on the floor here, but there is so much 

that individuals do outside this Chamber. What MARY has 

done outside of the Chamber is to use this position to make 

a difference for young people, and that is powerful. As MARY

has said, we fight over policies and issues, but every one of 

those young people has been touched in some way. I guarantee—and I am sure you have seen it over the years where 

someone might come up to you and say, I don’t know if you 

remember me, and then they tell you the story of how you 

met them when they were a foster kid and just getting 

adopted or when you were at one of the ceremonies or one 

of the events they were at. Those are the things I will remember about you. 

The tenacity that people talked about—there is no question about it. I was glad when I got on the Appropriations 

Committee because I thought, finally, I will be on there with 

someone who will chew it up with me, and I just had to hang 

on to your coattails when you were fighting on issues. 

When we sat in on those leadership meetings on Tuesday 

mornings, I was always thankful when you came in. You 

were right across from me. I don’t know if they all figured 

it out—maybe, again, as I said, it is a little bit of a confession—we had our signals, or maybe eye contact, and then we 

went to work. You were really incredible. 

When you were in caucus—and many people don’t see 

those, except as Members—you were always passionate 

about what was important to Louisiana. You never forgot 

what was important to Louisiana. 

People made the comment that you are tenacious. I would 

say that any time something did move in the Congress, you 

were a part of it in some way. When we were trying to figure 

out how to fix the health care bill, you were right there. You 

[ 14 ] 

didn’t hesitate. You knew it was a hot potato, but it was also 

something that we knew we had to make better, not just for 

people but for decades to come. You were not afraid of that 

even though you said you knew it could cost you your election because you knew generationally it would have an impact. 

It wasn’t about the moment, it was about 10, 15, 20 years, 

you could look back and say you helped make that happen, 

and you did, every time you tried to move in and push an 

item or idea. Even though we will not be serving here, you 

will have an impact. 

I could tell, as we were shaking hands here, it was amazing to watch you, you never stop. You were already talking 

to each person about the work they need to be doing. When 

I shook your hand, you were talking about fisheries. I am 

like, MARY, just relax. But you are already working it, and 

that is what is so unique about you. You will not be in this 

body, but you will be in this body because of the way you do 

your work. It is not about being in this office, it is about caring about Louisiana, and as I said, I saw it just in this last 

moment here. It is unbelievable. You will never give up on 

the people of Louisiana because you care so deeply. 

It has been an honor to know you. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana. 

Mr. COATS. I wish to make some remarks about the Senator from Louisiana. I had the pleasure of serving as ranking 

member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, and MARY LANDRIEU was the chairman. I wasn’t sure 

about what to expect when I joined that committee. I knew 

of MARY’s passion and her persuasion, which is given in a 

gentle but effective way. She reaches out. I thought, she is 

going to convince me out of just about everything. I will not 

be able to hold my own with her, but she was so gracious in 

terms of working together with me as we worked through 

some very tough issues. 

She was a knowledgeable and effective leader. She couldn’t 

ask enough questions, couldn’t gain enough information, 

making wise decisions, given the limitations that we had relative to appropriations and given the process that, unfortunately, was not the way the Appropriations Committee 

should go forward. Nevertheless, working together on that 

and on a whole number of issues turned out to be a very 

pleasant experience because of the nature of the leader of 

the committee and her willingness to work together. 

[ 15 ] 

You get to learn something about someone when you spend 

3 days trekking along the southern border on the immigration issue. We climbed into tunnels, driving along fences, 

talking to Border Patrol agents, looking at the enormous 

channels that exist relative to that border and our Border 

Patrol people and immigration control people. Both of us 

were right there in blue jeans and tennis shoes in hot weather, and learning first hand the challenges this country faces 

relative to dealing with immigration. 

Her passion for children and her State has been talked 

about. I think the word that best describes MARY is passion. 

She has passion for anything that she engages in and doing 

it in a way that is relentless and achieves results. I think it 

is a great tribute to her character and to the kind of person 

she is. 

One thing we will not be able to do is meet together somewhere in Russia. I have been banned from Russia and MARY

has been banned from Russia. I was banned because I took 

significant exception to the Russian takeover of Crimea and 

its activities in Ukraine. I was surprised by that. MARY was 

banned for an unnecessary reason, and that was trying to 

help Russian children who were trying to find adoptive parents. Obviously she was successful, and obviously she was as 

relentless there as she was on all the other issues because 

Russia saw that as a threat. Here is someone reaching out 

for all the right reasons and doing something for all the right 

reasons—passion for children and finding them a home. 

I wish MARY the very best going forward in her next chapter of life. I can testify to you from personal experience that 

there is life after Congress, and it can be a pleasant life. 

Knowing you, you will be engaged in something very significant—whether for your State or your country. Your life of 

service, and your family’s life of service, is well recognized. 

So I wish the Senator from Louisiana the very best as she 

goes forward. It has been a pleasure working with her. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The Senator 

from Virginia. 

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to follow the comments of my friend, the Senator from Indiana, although I do 

think the Record should be corrected. I would say to my colleague I have also dealt with the Senator from Louisiana a 

number of times on a number of issues, and I have thought 

of lots of words to describe her style, but ‘‘gentle’’ would not 

be one to come to mind. 

[ 16 ] 

I know this is a day to pay tribute, so I wish to echo some 

of the comments of the Senator from Indiana. 

I first met part of the Landrieu family when I had a 

chance to meet MARY’s dad when he was serving as the Secretary of HUD and I was a young staff person. MARY talks 

a lot about her family. Her family was kind enough to host 

me a variety of times when I was in Louisiana. She has a 

great family, a great tradition. 

So many folks have spoken about specific issues regarding 

MARY’s service in the Senate. I am not going to talk about 

her focus on issues and the relentlessness she brings, but I 

wish to acknowledge her generosity and heart and spirit. She 

and Frank would always open their home for whatever 

cause. Again, I heard the comments about her enormous 

heart and commitment for adoption. I think about so many 

events that we go to, but those Angels of Adoption events at 

her house touched all of us in a way that is not often the 

case. I also can acknowledge now that she has a great love 

for the Commonwealth of Virginia and has spent some time 

there due to her love of horses and her daughter’s riding and 

her own riding. As has been mentioned by so many—and I 

know from our own conversations—this is not somebody who 

wants to look backward but is clearly already looking forward. I know life holds for you and Frank a number of extraordinarily exciting additional chapters. I hope I have the 

opportunity to be a part of those chapters and to be subject 

to that gentle persuasion on whatever issue comes to mind 

as you go forward. 

I know I speak for so many of our colleagues when I say 

we all have a lot of unique characteristics, but with MARY

LANDRIEU they broke the mold. 

I yield the floor to my good friend the Senator from Maryland. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland. 

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, one of the truly nice things 

about serving in the Senate is the people we meet. Myrna 

and I consider Frank and MARY to be our friends. She is an 

incredible person and has given incredible service. I am sorry 

the people of Louisiana could not see MARY in our caucuses 

as she fought on different issues for the people of Louisiana 

and what she did as an advocate on behalf of people who 

otherwise would not have had their voices heard. She did it 

in a very effective way. 

[ 17 ] 

I heard some of the conversations about what happened 

with Katrina and the people of New Orleans. MARY

LANDRIEU brought us down to Louisiana for us to see first 

hand. It was incredible for me, not to just see the physical 

devastation, but thanks to MARY LANDRIEU, we saw the people. We saw the spirit in the people, but we saw people who 

needed help. It is that type of emotional involvement that 

MARY gives to every cause she believes in. 

So I want the Senator from Louisiana to know how much 

I deeply respect your model of public service and the people 

you stood up for. 

Senator LANDRIEU spoke about the adoption issue. She got 

into it because she has such a big family. I think I got into 

it because of her. She is pretty persuasive. We all feel better 

because of that. Senator LANDRIEU is the one who really led 

us in those efforts. What an incredible legacy. 

I want to speak a minute about small business issues. Senator LANDRIEU chaired that committee during a particularly 

important time. I want to relate a couple of stories to my colleagues. There are many times I was in the Democratic caucus and we would be talking about an issue and Senator 

LANDRIEU would stand and say, ‘‘Well, how about small businesses?’’ Under her leadership we brought some major initiatives to the floor to help small businesses because of MARY

LANDRIEU and her ability to put together a commonsense 

package. She understood small businesses are the growth engine of America. That is how jobs are created and that is 

where innovation takes place. I can tell my colleagues—I 

worked with her. I know what we got done. I know how we 

took on our own governmental agencies to make sure they 

did right for small businesses and how we fought the bundling. Contract officers love to take small contracts and 

make them into big ones because it is less headache for them 

but less opportunity for small businesses. MARY LANDRIEU

stopped that practice and put a spotlight on it. It was an incredible experience for me because it showed me that each 

of us can make a difference. 

I knew what I was trying to do. One of the issues I got involved with was to raise the surety bond issues and I didn’t 

see much chance of getting it done, but MARY gave me the 

opportunity to get it done. She coached me on how to get it 

done, and that is now a permanent law of the land. 

She made us all relevant on the committee, individually 

and collectively. We have a great legacy to help small busiVerDate Aug 31 2005 13:17 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\91907.TXT KAYNE
[ 18 ] 

nesses in this country, thanks to the leadership of Senator 

LANDRIEU. 

To the people of Louisiana, you could not have had a 

stronger advocate, a stronger friend, a person who accomplished more for that State during some extremely challenging times. To the people of this country and the work 

MARY LANDRIEU did on the Appropriations Committee for 

our national security and standing up for and protecting and 

defending our own country, the record of Senator LANDRIEU

is incredible. To those who are voiceless but had MARY

LANDRIEU to speak for them, from the disadvantaged to 

small businesses—and the list goes on and on—this is one 

incredible legislator. She is a model to many of us. I thank 

her so much for her service and her commitment to public 

life. It will always be an inspiration to me, the fact that I 

was given the honor to serve with you in the Senate of the 

United States. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Walsh). The Senator 

from Massachusetts. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise to add my words of admiration for this great person, for this great legislator. Just 

to tell a brief story, it was back in 2006, in a lameduck session just like this. The Democrats had won and were about 

to take over the Senate. The Democrats had just won and 

were about to take over the House—a different passage in 

time. But throughout all of 2006, even in the minority, MARY

LANDRIEU was moving a bill to open up a vast new area in 

the Gulf of Mexico for drilling for oil and natural gas. 

I was over in the House. I was from Massachusetts. I did 

not want this bill to pass. I wanted to actually save it for 

2007 when the Democrats were in control. We could pass it 

in an energy bill by the end of 2007, which would have included this provision. MARY passed it through the Senate— 

bipartisan, as usual. If we look up bipartisan, if we Google 

it, MARY’s picture actually comes up. 

Over in the House, because of all of her momentum, I lost 

and that bill passed. Again, tens of thousands of new jobs 

fell to Louisiana through MARY LANDRIEU. 

It was about a week later when I was out shopping and 

here comes MARY right toward me with her daughter in her 

riding outfit. 

MARY said, ‘‘I want to introduce you to Congressman Markey.’’ 

[ 19 ] 

I said to her daughter, ‘‘Well, you have to add a few additional words because your mother just defeated me quite 

badly just last week and passed a big bill for Louisiana, for 

whom your mother always calls her people, the people of 

Louisiana.’’ 

There isn’t anybody who understands better the spirit of 

legislating, about protecting your home State and respecting 

those who are maybe not in agreement with you but are not 

your enemy but somebody with whom you try to work. 

After the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico I was the lead 

Democrat in the House on the Natural Resources Committee 

with jurisdiction over that, and MARY again was outraged 

that such damage could be done to her fishermen, to her 

tourism industry, to her people in Louisiana. She worked 

hard to make sure billions of dollars would ultimately go 

back into the gulf to ensure that her fishermen, her tourism 

industry, and her people were protected. 

Then, after having served in the House for 37 years, I arrived in the Senate with a great concern for a bill I had been 

working on in Massachusetts, which was the dramatic rise 

in the insurance rates for homeowners and businesses right 

along the coastline of Massachusetts. I had to introduce legislation not only to work on the issue, but when I arrived in 

the Senate, MARY LANDRIEU was already here, already working on that bill, all ready to protect her homeowners, her 

small business people from outrageous increases in insurance rates that would have basically made their homes 

unaffordable. 

Throughout my career, all I can tell my colleagues is one 

constant is this great, legendary legislator, somebody who 

embodies all the best of what this institution stands for. I 

just want to let her know how proud I have been to be able 

to serve with her here and how proud I am to be able to tell 

a story of the time when she just beat me flat out because 

that is just how she plays. She plays it for her State every 

time, and no waiting if it is Louisiana. I know all the people 

of Louisiana know that about her. 

So congratulations on your great career. 

I yield the floor. 

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, as I start my comments on 

the land title legislation before us, I would be remiss if I did 

not mention the incredible work our chair MARY LANDRIEU

has done on this legislation. As we just heard from the 

tribute to her service over the last few minutes, as the Presiding Officer said in his comments, if you Google ‘‘biparVerDate Aug 31 2005 13:17 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\91907.TXT KAYNE
[ 20 ] 

tisan,’’ there will be a picture of MARY LANDRIEU. I think 

this title sort of embodies that. We owe great gratitude to 

Chairman LANDRIEU and to Ranking Member Murkowski for 

the incredible negotiation and work they have put into this 

package. . . . 

FRIDAY, December 12, 2014 

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I will now speak very briefly 

about my retiring colleagues and then turn it over to the 

Senator from Florida. I promise I will be brief. 

Everybody will face retirement, voluntarily or involuntarily. There will be a last vote to cast and a last speech to 

make. Only God knows when that day comes because we are 

all just one car wreck away from ending our careers. 

To the retiring Members, I have had the pleasure of serving with you, and I know you all. You did what you thought 

was best for our country and your State, and what more 

could anyone ask? My good friend Mark Pryor, who tried to 

find common ground at a time when it is hard to find. MARY

LANDRIEU, who would drill under the Capitol if she thought 

it would help American energy independence. We have good 

friends on the other side, and I will miss you, and I wish you 

well. But I would like very briefly to speak about four. . . . 

To all of you, Godspeed. I wish you nothing but the best. 

I am fortunate enough to go into my third term. To my colleagues, as we go into the next Congress, let’s try to do better. I know we can. If we do, all boats will rise. 

Ms. HEITKAMP. Madam President, I honor my friend and 

colleague from Louisiana, Senator MARY LANDRIEU, who is 

departing the Senate at the end of this year. Her career in 

public service began 34 years ago when she was elected to 

the Louisiana House of Representatives. During that time 

and in her service in the U.S. Senate, she has proved time 

and again that the people of Louisiana could not have asked 

for a better advocate and fighter on their behalf. 

It is tough to describe someone like Senator LANDRIEU. 

Senator LANDRIEU is selfless, dedicated, tenacious, and resilient, but these are just words that, while accurate, fail to 

truly capture who this woman is and what she stands for. It 

is only by looking at Senator LANDRIEU’s significant accomplishments that someone can truly begin to understand the 

depths of her selflessness, dedication, and resiliency. During 

[ 21 ] 

my time in the Senate, I have seen MARY embody these 

words like few others in this body. 

Senator LANDRIEU and I both come from large families. I 

know the impact being one of seven children had on me 

growing up and I am sure Senator LANDRIEU can attest to 

how big of an impact being one of nine children had on her. 

During her time in public service, Senator LANDRIEU has 

worked hard to ensure that all children can benefit from 

having a family to call their own. Senator LANDRIEU has 

worked extensively with the Angels in Adoption Program 

since its inception, and cochaired the Congressional Coalition 

on Adoption and the Congressional Foster Care Caucus. Senator LANDRIEU’s work has changed the lives of children 

across Louisiana, the country, and around the world. Because of her work, there are countless children who are now 

able to feel the love and benefits of having a family. 

In 2005, Louisiana was victim of one of the worst natural 

disasters to ever hit this country. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and Louisiana the likes of which this 

country has rarely seen. With one of the country’s great cities devastated and in ruins, it was MARY LANDRIEU who took 

the lead on recovery efforts. It was MARY LANDRIEU who held 

FEMA’s feet to the fire to better serve Louisianans. It was 

MARY LANDRIEU who helped direct billions of dollars in recovery funds to the State. It was because of MARY LANDRIEU

that the great State of Louisiana has bounced back strong as 

ever. 

Senator LANDRIEU’s leadership did not end with the recovery and rebuilding efforts. Following the passage of the 

Biggert-Waters Flood Reform Act in 2012, Senator LANDRIEU

was one of the first to recognize and sound the alarm on the 

impending problems homeowners would face with unreasonably high flood insurance rates. Because of her early recognition of these problems and her proactive approach to finding 

solutions, Congress was able pass a bill preventing thousands of people across the country from being forced to pay 

disastrously high flood insurance premiums. 

I have also had the privilege of working with Senator 

LANDRIEU on energy issues. There is no better advocate in 

the Senate on energy than Senator LANDRIEU. I came here 

with the intent of learning everything that I could from Senator LANDRIEU. My only regret is that there was no way to 

fully take in all of her knowledge in the brief time that I 

have been here. That is a testament to the incredible work 

that she has done over her career to advance a pragmatic enVerDate Aug 31 2005 13:17 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\91907.TXT KAYNE
[ 22 ] 

ergy policy for this country, work that I hope to continue in 

the years ahead building upon the energy legacy that Senator LANDRIEU will leave behind. 

A word you hear often when people describe Senator 

LANDRIEU is tenacious, and this was never more apparent 

than on her work to advance the Keystone XL Pipeline. Anyone who watched Senator LANDRIEU work that bill and work 

behind the scenes to get the votes knows that she will fight 

to the very last second for what she believes in and that the 

word ‘‘can’t’’ doesn’t exist in her vocabulary. Senator 

LANDRIEU singlehandedly forced this bill to the Senate floor 

and brought us closer than we have been in 6 years to approving this project once and for all. Senator LANDRIEU’s 

pragmatic approach to this issue and willingness to embrace 

solutions over politics stands as an example for the rest of 

the Senate to strive for. 

Senator LANDRIEU always looked out for the energy interests of her State, while recognizing the need to provide and 

protect her gulf coast communities. She has pushed for increased LNG exports that would bring new jobs and significant investment to her State. She also has been instrumental in expanding oil exploration and production in the 

Gulf of Mexico, but while doing so she has made sure that 

her coastal communities receive a bigger share of the royalties and revenue to mitigate any impacts from the development. Working for jobs and economic development and protecting those most impacted by this development, that is a 

pretty good legacy to leave behind in Louisiana. 

The Landrieu family name comes with a long history of 

public service in Louisiana. The Landrieus, known for their 

big personalities that are eclipsed only by their accomplishments in office, can rest easy knowing that MARY has more 

than lived up to the family name. The Senate, Louisiana, 

and the country, are better off because of the work MARY

LANDRIEU has done in the Senate. I know I am not alone in 

saying that we will miss having her here. I also know I am 

not alone in saying that I am sure her work is not done. I 

wish her luck in this next chapter of her life and look forward to seeing the tremendous work she will accomplish outside of this Chamber. 

[ 23 ] 

MONDAY, December 15, 2014 

Mr. REID. Madam President, a noted author and analyst 

of human behavior, Stephen Covey, said, ‘‘Strength lies in 

differences, not in similarities.’’ 

For the last 18 years, Senate Democrats were stronger because of Senator MARY LANDRIEU. Her ability to shun political labels—instead of just going the route with Democrats 

and Republicans and Independents, she went her route. She 

made the United States a better place. She made the Senate 

a better place. 

She had good training for being a consensus builder and 

somebody who liked compromise. I had the good fortune to 

serve in the Senate with other Louisiana Senators. I served 

with Bennett Johnston for many years on the Appropriations 

Committee. He was chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee on Appropriations. He was a good legislator. Not 

only did he help Louisiana a lot, he helped the country. Then 

there was John Breaux. He and I came to the Senate together. He was the dealmaker. He could put a deal together 

when no one thought one could be put together. So MARY

LANDRIEU has had good Louisiana genes with those two 

men, and that is one of the reasons she has been as effective 

as she has been. 

As I indicated, MARY came to the Senate with no partisan 

agenda. She was not interested in representing just liberals 

or just conservatives. She worked to represent all of Louisiana, which meant that sometimes she and I were not on 

the same side of an issue, and other times we were on the 

same side of an issue, but one thing was always certain: She 

was always on Louisiana’s side. 

The Landrieu family’s political legacy runs long and deep 

in the State of Louisiana. She is the oldest of nine children. 

She is the daughter of Moon Landrieu, and her brother 

Mitch Landrieu is the mayor of New Orleans. Moon was a 

former mayor of New Orleans from 1970 to 1978, and was 

Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

A number of years ago, I toured New Orleans because she 

asked me to, as a member of the Appropriations Committee. 

I said, ‘‘OK, I will go, but I have to see those pumps—p-um-p-s.’’ I watched this show on National Public Broadcasting, 

and they talked about these old pumps that had been there 

since 1900 that still worked every day pumping the water. 

[ 24 ] 

New Orleans is below sea level and those pumps have to 

work 24 hours a day. I went to see those old pumps. They 

were so clean. That place was spotlessly clean using those 

very old pumps. 

I toured Lake Pontchartrain. I learned so much about it. 

Most all of the highways in New Orleans were built using 

the seashells from that lake. Thousands and thousands of 

tons of shells have come out of that lake. They recently 

stopped doing that, after so many years, because they 

thought it would be damaging to the environment. But over 

the last 50, 60, 100 years, thousands and thousands of tons 

of shells came out of that lake. We all heard about Lake 

Pontchartrain during that huge storm that hit. 

Also, as part of the tour of New Orleans, you had to go to 

her home, that little home where nine children were raised. 

It is really a beautiful little home—but nine children, wow. 

Her mom and dad were there. That was the first time I had 

been able to meet the famous Moon Landrieu. 

When we came there, unannounced, he was making peanut brittle, and I got some peanut brittle. On occasion, that 

good man has sent me some of his homemade peanut brittle. 

So I think the world of MARY and her family. 

She was very quick to follow in her father’s footsteps. At 

the age of 23, she was elected to the State legislature, making her the youngest woman to have ever been elected to 

that body. 

After 8 years in the legislature, she became the State 

treasurer for 8 years. In 1996, she was elected to the Senate, 

becoming the first woman in Louisiana ever elected to a full 

Senate term. 

Since coming to the Senate, MARY has chaired the Senate 

Committee on Small Business, and she was really good 

there. She is now the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the same full committee her 

predecessor Bennett Johnson chaired. 

On the Committee on Small Business, she reduced heavy 

Federal regulations and created tax relief for small businesses. As chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and 

Natural Resources, MARY LANDRIEU fought for Louisiana’s 

industry and jobs. Even before she became chair of that committee, she did something that was impossible. People had 

been trying to do something like this in Louisiana for 50, 60, 

70, 80 years, but she did it—she was able to get New Orleans and the whole State of Louisiana and the gulf coast 

[ 25 ] 

some financial benefit from the offshore drilling. She did 

that. That is a legacy she will always have. 

She always had Louisiana’s interests at heart, and the 

people of Louisiana have been all the better because of it. 

For example, in the aftermath of Katrina, she stood up to 

the Bush administration and demanded more disaster relief 

for the people in Louisiana. The New York Times called her 

‘‘the national spokeswoman for victims of the hurricane.’’ 

As her time in the Senate comes to an end, all Louisianans 

will miss having MARY in their corner. I wish MARY

LANDRIEU and her husband Frank and their children Connor—who was recently married—and Mary Shannon the 

very best. 

I remember when MARY brought that little baby Mary 

Shannon to the Senate. She was a tiny little baby. Now this 

beautiful child has grown to be an expert horsewoman. She 

is one of those people who rides horses all the time. She has 

entered her horses in different contests and has done very 

well. 

I have known Connor since he was a little boy. He is married, and they have a little baby named Maddox, and MARY

is so proud of her grandchild. Her husband Frank is a wonderful human being. I think so very much of him. I hope we 

will continue seeing them. Very often MARY will bring her 

family to my office. She takes them out on the balcony that 

overlooks the Mall. 

MARY has touched my heart for a number of things, but 

the one thing she has done, which has been unsurpassed, is 

her caring for children who have no parents—adoptions. She 

led the Senate in adoptions. Her two children were adopted. 

Connor and Mary Shannon were adopted. She is so involved 

in that program, and I know she will continue to be involved. 

Here on the Senate floor we will all miss MARY, her voice 

of reason and moderation. I consider her to be a good friend, 

and I appreciate all she has done for me, the people of Louisiana, and our country. 

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I know that so many of 

my colleagues are looking forward to wrapping up this year’s 

business and hopefully getting home soon for the holidays. 

I wish to take a few minutes to speak about a couple of 

issues. First I wish to give some remarks about my colleague, the Senator from Louisiana, on her retirement, and 

to mention a few things that have been going on in the 

Small Business Committee which will be wrapping up business. The Small Business Committee and Senator LANDRIEU

[ 26 ] 

are kind of synonymous in my mind because my colleague 

Senator LANDRIEU has been, for the better part of the last 

couple of years, the chair of that committee and has done 

some incredible work. As legislation is moving through the 

final days in the U.S. Senate, we have been very successful 

in getting some important legislation passed for small business. 

One piece of legislation we were able to make a part of the 

defense authorization bill is sole-source contracting for 

women entrepreneurs so they can more easily get contracting 

with the Federal Government. That is going to help us have 

their great products and services more easily contracted and 

get access to those contracts. 

There is also money for microlending programs. My colleague from Michigan, Senator Levin, has pioneered an idea 

that is so important to women entrepreneurs and that involves the kind of lending they would like to see from the 

Small Business Administration, which is microlending, and 

for women to be able to get access to microloans. They also 

want an intermediate loan level of $200,000 or less. That 

helps them target some of the business interests they have, 

because we definitely need more women entrepreneurs in our 

country. 

The third item is the STEP Program, which is a small 

business export assistance program that works with States. 

The Federal Government and the Small Business Administration work with States to help them target businesses 

within their States that can use export assistance to become 

exporters. This is such an important issue for our country, 

because we, with a growing middle class around the globe, 

have a great opportunity to sell new products and services 

around the globe. But many of our small businesses are challenged by the risk of making those kinds of attempts to sell 

in those markets. So this export assistance program, which 

had been a pilot, is now going to be a funded permanent program. So we are excited about that and excited it is moving 

through. 

I also didn’t get a chance last week to speak about my colleague Senator LANDRIEU on the floor, so I wanted to take 

a few minutes now to remind my colleagues that as someone 

who has served with her on the Energy Committee and 

served with her on the Small Business Committee, I have 

been so impressed with the accomplishments she has 

achieved in her career here in the U.S. Senate. For much of 

the time she was talking the other day—rightfully so—she 

[ 27 ] 

shared a lot of moments of her career and a lot of personal 

moments. I wanted to remind my colleagues of some of the 

very big challenges she faced as a Senator and how impressed I am with what she was able to actually overcome. 

Many people know that obviously being hit by Katrina was 

one of the biggest economic challenges not just in Louisiana 

but to our country, and her impassioned leadership and calls 

to hasten the efforts to make sure we were doing everything 

we could for those individuals to receive medical aid and 

shelter and help find loved ones was nonstop for many days. 

She successfully, as she mentioned on the floor, urged OMB 

to fully fund the repairs of the levee system in southeast 

Louisiana and continues that work. She succeeded in passing 

legislation that directed the Army Corps of Engineers to analyze, design, and strengthen the storm mitigation systems 

against category 5 hurricanes. 

Now if any of my colleagues in the U.S. Senate have ever 

worked with the Army Corps of Engineers, say no more. You 

know how challenging it is. We don’t control them. They base 

all of their work on science. They have a budget. It is never 

enough money. It can seem as though we are fighting them 

forever to get something we think is essential to protect the 

people in our State to move forward. So she did all of that 

and moved the focus to make sure we establish a defense 

against category 5 hurricanes. 

Also, if any of my colleagues ever had a flood or a storm 

in their State post-Katrina, they know the first person they 

were going to hear from was MARY LANDRIEU. She didn’t 

stop her efforts in Louisiana. She wanted to take everything 

she learned from that emergency and call you up and tell 

you these are the things you need to do immediately and this 

is how you should get prepared. I know she did that for 

many of my colleagues and we so appreciated it. 

Then another catastrophe happened—the Deepwater Horizon oilspill. As a member of the Commerce Committee, I can 

tell my colleagues I spoke to her many times about issues as 

they related to the Clean Water Act and what was eventually passed, the RESTORE Act, which was a bipartisan effort. Basically, the bill made sure that 80 percent of the 

Clean Water Act fines from BPA went directly into the Gulf 

States, making this the biggest individual investment in environmental conservation and restoration in our country’s 

history. That was no easy task. There were a lot of people 

at the time who wanted to focus on many different aspects 

of that disaster, and so many events have taken place since 

[ 28 ] 

then. But I can remember clearly the catastrophe and what 

it meant for the fishing community, the individuals, the 

States’ economies—all of the questions. A lot of people were 

looking backward about what happened, but the Senator 

from Louisiana was looking forward to make sure those 

funds were invested right there in the gulf. That was a big 

challenge that she was successful in meeting. 

Obviously, she used her voice for many issues related to 

Louisiana, but I wish to emphasize to my colleagues how 

much she also used her voice for many other people who 

didn’t seem to be here in the Halls of Washington and made 

sure that those issues were at the top of the agenda. 

We had the 2009 economic crisis in our country and many 

people remember because it had such a huge economic impact on individual families. The Senator from Louisiana 

made sure she was standing up for small businesses during 

that time period. There were millions of Americans who lost 

their jobs during that time period, and as everybody was 

here talking about what to do to help these big banks—and 

we all know that they got a bailout—many small businesses 

across the country actually had performing lines of credit cut 

out right from under them. So they didn’t have anybody 

knocking on the door to make sure they were being helped. 

But the Senator from Louisiana got very vocal here about 

the prioritization of making sure that we did something 

about conventional lending and tried to tackle this issue. 

From 2007 to 2009, the number of SBA borrowers dropped 

by more than half and the amount of loans dropped by more 

than one-third. Many of these small businesses were paying 

the price. So Senator LANDRIEU got busy fighting for what 

was the Small Business Jobs Act. If my colleagues remember 

that debate, there were many times that some people on the 

other side of the aisle didn’t want to support that legislation 

or even moments when Treasury didn’t know if they wanted 

to support that legislation. She was successful in the end in 

getting that legislation passed 61 to 38. The Small Business 

Jobs Act leveraged more than $42 billion in loans to more 

than 90,000 businesses throughout the SBA. The bill, along 

with other measures, helped target about $12 billion in tax 

cuts for small business. So while the big banks had immediate relief, they had someone here in DC fighting for small 

businesses, and that was Senator LANDRIEU. 

That legislation also saw a small business lending fund increase so that there was more capital on Main Street for 

small business. As a result of the legislation, 2011 and 2012 

[ 29 ] 

were the two biggest years on record for the 7(a) and the 504 

Program, which are kind of the premier programs for the 

Small Business Administration. That went a long way to 

helping small businesses begin to recover. Also, the small 

business credit initiative helped small businesses get access 

to capital. 

So all of these things were what my colleague from Louisiana fought for to help small businesses. I think it is a perfect example, along with those other things about how she 

used her voice to try to bring clarity to the challenges we 

were facing and stand up for those who weren’t being heard. 

She also, though, lent her voice to another group that is 

often—we don’t necessarily always understand all of the 

issues surrounding it. I kind of think that she took over for 

Senator Byrd who was a great advocate on behalf of animals 

and spoke a lot about his dog, and many of the stories he 

shared warmed everybody’s heart. Senator LANDRIEU last 

year was the Humane Society’s Legislator of the Year for her 

consistent work to prevent the cruel practices of horse 

slaughter, to protect wild animals, and strengthen provisions 

against animal fighting. So she clearly deserved that title 

and we certainly appreciate her efforts there. She was also 

a voice for the District of Columbia. People get committee assignments, and, yes, she had that committee assignment, but 

the thing about Senator LANDRIEU is that once she took an 

assignment, she was tough on making sure those issues were 

addressed. She did that for the District of Columbia. 

I want to add my sincere thanks to the Senator from Louisiana for all of her work and public service here in the Senate. She will be missed. I know she and I share a passion 

for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It is an issue 

that is near and dear to my heart and something she has 

tried in her time in the Senate to get fully funded. We are 

going to continue that work on her behalf in the Energy 

Committee. 

Again, I thank my colleague and dear friend for her incredible passion and for fighting for those whose voices were 

not always heard. There is no mistake her voice was heard 

here in the Senate. 

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, for nearly 20 years, 

Louisianans have had no greater advocate, and no stronger 

voice, than that of MARY LANDRIEU. She has been a crusader 

for her State, and even today continues to fight to build on 

Louisiana’s recovery from the devastating storms of 2005 

[ 30 ] 

that wreaked havoc across Louisiana and throughout the city 

of New Orleans. 

It was in 2005 that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged 

the gulf coast, devastating New Orleans. Then in 2010 the 

Deepwater Horizon oilspill sent millions of barrels of oil into 

the gulf, coating Louisiana’s beaches and wildlife. During 

these terrible times Louisiana could have had no better advocate than Senator LANDRIEU. After Katrina, Senator 

LANDRIEU secured more than $120 billion in recovery money 

to help restore New Orleans and Louisiana’s coast. After the 

Deepwater Horizon spill, Senator LANDRIEU worked tirelessly with both Democratic and Republican colleagues to 

move the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act through the Senate. 

Her leadership secured essential reparations from British 

Petroleum to restore the battered gulf coast. 

In 2009, Senator LANDRIEU and former Senator Olympia 

Snowe made history as the first two female lawmakers to 

lead a full congressional committee—the Committee on 

Small Business and Entrepreneurship—as chair and ranking 

member. Senator LANDRIEU is also the first female Senator 

to chair the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

She has been an active member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and I have appreciated her willingness to 

work with me on so many issues in her capacity as the chair 

of the Homeland Security Subcommittee. When Vermont was 

devastated by Hurricane Irene, Senator LANDRIEU was a key 

ally in helping me secure needed resources to help rebuild 

roads, bridges, businesses, and communities in Vermont. I 

thank her for that, Vermonters thank her, and I will never 

forget her invaluable work and support. 

Louisiana has been well represented by Senator LANDRIEU. 

She has been a steadfast and stalwart defender of her State’s 

priorities and needs. I wish her, her husband Frank, and 

their entire family the very best. 

TUESDAY, December 16, 2014 

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, as we wind down the final 

days of the 113th Congress, it is a good time both to reflect 

on the past and to look toward the future. I have been very 

moved as I listened to the farewell speeches of our departing 

Senators, and I wish I had time to pay tribute to each one 

of them. They have all been wonderful colleagues, and I enVerDate Aug 31 2005 13:17 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 091900 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6688 Sfmt 6688 H:\DOCS\BYEBYE\BYEBYE14\91907.TXT KAYNE
[ 31 ] 

joyed working with and getting to know every one of them. 

I wish them all the very best in all their future endeavors. 

They will most certainly be missed. . . . 

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, before this Congress ends, I 

wanted to pay tribute to several of my colleagues who will 

not be here when we convene next year. Some chose not to 

run again, and others unfortunately lost their reelection 

campaigns, but we will miss them all next year. I begin in 

order of seniority. . . . 

Mr. President, Senator MARY LANDRIEU started a career of 

public service in the Louisiana State Legislature and then as 

State treasurer. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, 

becoming her State’s first female Senator. Senator LANDRIEU

has always fought for her State, a fact never more apparent 

than in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when 

she fought valiantly for disaster funding and reforms that 

helped countless people in Louisiana. MARY has also been a 

champion for our children, and I have seen her commitment 

as we worked together on adoption and foster care issues 

over the years. We will miss MARY’s spirit, but we know she 

will never stop fighting for what she believes in. I wish 

MARY and Frank well in this new chapter of their lives. . . . 

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, my friend from Louisiana 

Senator MARY LANDRIEU has devoted her entire life to public 

service, and today I wish to recognize the extraordinary leadership and energy that she has brought to the Senate 

throughout her career. 

Senator LANDRIEU has been a leader on so many issues, 

none more so than as a passionate advocate for children 

around the world. I was proud to work with her on legislation to address the decline in international adoptions, in addition to several other bills that Senator LANDRIEU has authored to support children both in the United States and in 

developing nations. This issue is particularly near to Senator 

LANDRIEU’s heart, and I know I am speaking for countless 

children around the world when I thank her for her efforts 

to ensure all children experience the benefits of a safe and 

loving family. 

I also had the pleasure of working with Senator LANDRIEU

during her leadership of the Senate Small Business Committee, as well as on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

Senator LANDRIEU has always fought hard for her home 

State of Louisiana, and her dedication to her constituents 

[ 32 ] 

was made clear in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. All 

Americans vividly recall the scenes of destruction caused by 

the storm—more than 1,800 killed and $100 billion in property destroyed in just days. Those who were fortunate to escape the storm physically unscathed were more than likely 

left homeless, and over 80 percent of Senator LANDRIEU’s 

hometown of New Orleans was under water for weeks after 

Katrina made landfall. 

After the storm Senator LANDRIEU immediately set to 

work building support for legislation to jump start the gulf 

coast recovery and help her constituents put their lives back 

together. Senator LANDRIEU nearly singlehandedly pushed 

through critical funding and reforms to help Louisiana rebuild. 

It has been an honor working with her, and I thank her 

for her years of service to the Senate and the Nation. 

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to celebrate and thank 

the 13 outgoing Senators who have worked tirelessly to represent their home States in the Senate: Senator Mark 

Begich, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Tom Coburn, 

Senator Kay Hagan, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Mike 

Johanns, Senator Tim Johnson, Senator MARY LANDRIEU, 

Senator Carl Levin, Senator Mark Pryor, Senator Jay Rockefeller, Senator Mark Udall, and Senator John Walsh. 

I have worked side by side with these men and women for 

years—some for decades—and witnessed first hand their extraordinary commitment to public service and to the people 

they so proudly represent. 

Even when we didn’t see eye to eye on every issue, I always deeply respected and admired their service to our Nation and their dedication to fight for what they believe in. 

It has been a privilege to serve alongside each and every 

one of these extraordinary colleagues. I will miss their leadership and their friendship, and I wish them all the best as 

they embark on the next chapter. 

FRIDAY, January 2, 2015 

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, at the end of this session 

of Congress, the Senate will be bidding farewell to my colleague and dear friend, Senator MARY LANDRIEU, who has 

served the people of Louisiana with such devotion over the 

last 18 years. 

[ 33 ] 

I don’t think it is possible to overstate the magnitude of 

the challenges that she has faced on behalf of her constituents. Hurricane Katrina may have been the most horrible 

natural disaster our country has ever experienced—and Senator LANDRIEU’s native city of New Orleans was ground zero. 

No one was more engaged in the recovery effort that followed that calamity. Senator LANDRIEU fought tenaciously to 

secure the funds it would take to repair and revitalize the 

gulf coast with infrastructure improvements that would protect the coast against another major event. 

In the 10 years since Katrina, Senator LANDRIEU has been 

a champion for homeowners who were struggling to afford 

flood insurance, most recently by winning passage of the 

Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, this past 

March. 

Of course, just as the gulf coast appeared close to making 

a full recovery, it was struck by another disaster—the Deepwater Horizon oilspill. Again, Senator LANDRIEU was on the 

vanguard of that recovery, winning passage of the RESTORE 

Act so that the vast majority of the fines collected by the 

U.S. Government would go back to the gulf coast to help pay 

for the cleanup. It is the single biggest investment in environmental restoration in American history. 

These were the moments when the people of Louisiana 

needed MARY LANDRIEU most—and she delivered as only she 

can. 

At the same time, Senator LANDRIEU has always understood that the oil and gas industry is vital to her State’s 

economy, and so it was a major milestone when she became 

the first woman to chair the Senate Energy Committee. 

She fights so hard for Louisiana, but over the years of 

working with her, I have learned how much she is driven by 

a deep feeling of compassion, not just for those displaced by 

hurricanes or those whose livelihood was jeopardized by the 

Deepwater Horizon but for the children of her State and our 

country who were given up for adoption or placed in foster 

care. 

Senator LANDRIEU knows the joys of adopting first hand, 

having adopted her two children, Connor and Mary Shannon, 

and she wants other parents to feel that joy. So she sympathizes with parents who wish to adopt a child but who are 

struggling to do so—especially since she knows there are 

children desperate for parents but who remain wards of the 

State. By matching those parents with that child, she knows 

that she can create a true family. 

[ 34 ] 

So she has led the efforts in the Senate to improve child 

welfare systems internationally and to make it easier for 

American parents to adopt children in other countries. She 

has pushed for Federal funds to create foster care mentoring 

programs, so that children who are in the foster system have 

better guidance during the most critical years of their social 

development. 

I know I speak for other Members of this Chamber when 

I say that we will do our very best to continue the momentum that Senator LANDRIEU has created for finding a permanent, loving home for every American child. 

I will deeply miss having her with us but I have absolutely 

no doubt that MARY LANDRIEU will find new ways to express 

her devotion to the people of Louisiana and our country. It 

is not just a tradition in her family; it is her singular passion. I thank her for her amazing service here and I look forward to all the great achievements that are in her future. 

Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the many 

accomplishments of my friend, Senator MARY LANDRIEU, my 

colleague from Louisiana, during her 18 years here in the 

U.S. Senate. 

Senator LANDRIEU was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. 

Prior to serving in the Senate, she had already served the 

people of her State for 16 years—first as a State legislator, 

and later as a State treasurer. Altogether Senator 

LANDRIEU’s service to the people of Louisiana has spanned 

nearly 34 years of commitment. 

MARY served her constituents with utter conviction, dedication, and persistence—qualities that her colleagues in the 

U.S. Senate use to describe her. 

However, Senator LANDRIEU’s dedication can be described 

in other ways as well. 

In her farewell remarks, Senator LANDRIEU discussed how 

faith and family helped drive her. She draws tremendous 

strength from her faith, and also her large and supportive 

family—a family that knows a thing or two about the ups 

and downs of politics. 

Her father, Moon Landrieu, served as a judge, State representative, New Orleans city councilman, and Secretary of 

the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Her brother, Mitch Landrieu, was Louisiana’s Lieutenant 

Governor, and both her father and brother have served as 

mayors of New Orleans—her father during an era of renewal, and her brother during an era of rebuilding. 

[ 35 ] 

MARY has clearly stepped up to the plate during the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the horrendous BP oilspill. 

Those are the kinds of challenges that none of us expect 

when we enter public life—but they are the challenges which 

show our communities what we are made of. 

Senator LANDRIEU rose to both challenges. She has worked 

as hard as any Senator has ever worked to see that her constituents were taken care of. She has pushed hard on Federal agencies to help rebuild, and passed legislation to help 

with gulf restoration. She has also fought to see that flood 

insurance rates remain affordable—not just for those in Louisiana, but across the country. 

Her efforts have earned the respect of everyone she has 

worked with, and she earned the opportunity to serve as 

chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee as well as the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. I know that the issues she championed 

on these two committees were important to her constituents, 

and I admire her advocacy for jobs in her State and more opportunities for small businesses. 

Of course, Senator LANDRIEU’s work extended beyond 

these two committees. For years, she worked on adoption, 

education, conservation, and other issues that were near and 

dear to her heart. 

All of us will miss MARY’s drive, tenacity, and willingness 

to work with others to get things done. She will continue to 

be a tough and relentless fighter for Louisiana no matter 

what her next challenge will be. 

Aloha, MARY, a hui hou, ‘‘until we meet again.’’ 

Æ