Date: 2007-06-05
Speaker: CRAIG THOMAS (republican)
Chamber: S

I want to say to Senator ENZI. first. we will all have an opportunity in the next few days and weeks to speak about the Senator who was your colleague who left us last night. and we all will have an opportunity to speak with you and see you on more occasions than this to express to you our heartfelt sorrow for the loss of your colleague. You will suffer a lot of things that will be downers during your life in the Senateand because we all live our lives. things happen. go up and go downbut I am quite sure you will not have an opportunity to suffer any more severe a loss than the loss of your colleague who was at the same time a cowboy. a marine. a Senator. a father. and. clearly. a husband. He had a wife named Susan. Everybody who knows her loves her. My wife loves her. I called my wife early this morning. after I heard. and I was so pleased she answered the phone herself because I thought: Where will I get her? We may get caught up in the maze of today and maybe I will not be able to talk to her until tomorrow. or maybe Nancy will not be able to talk to me. But. sure enough. it was at 8:30 this morning I was able to talk to her. Her first words. after knowing who I .was. were words coming out of her mouth saying: He did a good job for Wyoming. didnt he? I said: You bet. Then: I am sure. not knowing the rest of his life. he must have done a good job in a lot of other areas. Probably he was a good husbandto which there was.no answer because that was not intended as a question. He obviously was a wonderful man. Quiet. sort of unassuming. but he was a very involved Senator. especially when it came to Wyoming. Very early on. as he worked his way from the House. where he replaced DICK CHENEY. over to the Senate. where he had .been elected. he decided he would work for his State. You did not hear of him a lot on national news because he was busy doing what he thought was best for him as a Senator. and that was. representing that great State of Wyoming. What a State that is. and what a Senator they had. From my standpoint. I served with him on two committees. The one I know the most and remember the most is the one we served the longest on: Energy and Natural Resources. which the occupant of the chair has. served. on with us. But when it came to this man. he frequently worked with Democrats on serious issues because he wanted to get things done. If there is one thing I noticedas we worked together. shoulder to shoulder on this committee. it was that he was impatient because he did not understand when we wasted time and he did not understand why we were doing some certain things. He would ask: Why dont we get on with what we are supposed to do? What are we talking about this for? This is not policy. We are talking about a bunch of little things we ought not be involved in. I think I remember that more than anything else: Cant we get on with it? I remember he was burdened with the fact there is a substance in his State called trona. The other Senator from Wyoming might know about it. He must know about it. Apparently. they were having competition in the world. -and he thought the royalties were too high. I dont know. Anybody who served on the committee must have heard the word "trona" because he was all over that issue. wanting to get somebody to listen to him about the unfairness of it and to help solve it. I did not get to serve with him on the Finance Committee and other committees he served on. but it would be my guess he was the same way on all of them. that he showed up when he should and did his job as best he could. and that when the chips were down. you could count on him. When the chips were down. he did what he said. He voted the way he would tell you. He worked the way a dedicated person works. For me and my wife. on this day. shortly after his death. I want to say in the Senate that Wyoming sent us a true man. I do not know whether it was the marines who made him a man or what it was. but he was truly different. He was tough minded. He was quiet. But he was impatient. and he wanted to get good things done. I am positive his relatives and his great State will never forget him. He will be remembered by them. just as we remember him. He will leave them. and they will have a big void. without a question. because a giant part of their lives leaves. That goes for Wyoming. and that goes for his wife Susan and their children. I think there are four of them. I did not get to meet them. But if they are like their mother and father. they could.not help but be great. With that. I say goodbye to the Senator. and I extend my sorrows to his wonderful wife. and. hopefully. I will be part of whatever ceremony there is for us to send him on his way. May God bless his family and him. and may whatever he aspired to get done. get done by others who follow him because he set such a wonderful basis to get those things completed for his State. I thank the Senate and I thank the junior Senator from Wyoming for the kind man he is. I will be seeing him. and I say to the Senator. if I can help you during these times. please call on me. I am available. I yield the floor.