A resolution commending the service of Dr. Lloyd J. Ogilvie, the Chaplain of the United States Senate.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak of the contributions and service to the Nation, the U.S. Senate, to my family and myself made by Dr. Lloyd J. Ogilvie as Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, I joined the U.S. Senate just over three months ago and I am repeatedly impressed and reminded about the history and tradition of this body. The Office of the Chaplain has served the Senate each day with prayer strongly reaffirming this institution's commitment to faith in God and our recognition of God being the ultimate sovereign over this Nation. The daily guidance and reminder of our Maker helps us all keep perspective on our duties and activities as we debate and make decisions of weighty issues confronting our country.

The Chaplain of the Senate has been an integral part of the U.S. Senate since 1789 when the first Senate elected the first Chaplain. The daily prayers of the Chaplains have been published over the years. In times of great turmoil and in times of the mundane the Chaplain reminds us of our obligation to keep the moral compass pointed in the right direction. This body has been brought together in times of conflict with the help of the Chaplain. Dr. Ogilvie has served us well as the sixty-first Chaplain since 1995.

Just last week the U.S. Senate passed a resolution reaffirming that the term ``under God'' was an essential part of the pledge of allegiance. I am confident that Dr. Ogilvie could have contributed to our insight and debate. but there is no dispute that this body and this Nation remain under the graceful guidance of God. We have been helped to understand this grace by the spiritual guidance of Dr. Ogilvie.

I have known of the Chaplain Ogilvie for longer than my service in the U.S. Senate. My parents, Senator Frank Murkowski and Nancy Murkowski, share a warm and special relationship with Dr. Ogilvie and his wife Mary. Through them I learned about Dr. Ogilvie and his compassion and commitment to his faith. They join me in sending their prayers, best wishes and expressions of warmth to him upon his retirement.

Dr. Ogilvie will be missed by all his flock and all who know him in his role as Chaplain in the U.S. Senate. He has served this institution in the tradition of this body with honor and excellence.

Mr. President, I join the distinguished Senator from Kentucky in saying a word about the Chaplain, Lloyd Ogilvie.

I am a new Senator, as is the Presiding Officer, and there have been a great many wonderful things about coming to the Senate. But nothing has surpassed the privilege of getting to know Lloyd Ogilvie in these first couple of months. I have watched him and listened, and I have learned from him. I have been comforted by him. I am deeply grateful for that.

This month in Billy Graham's publication, ``Decision,'' Lloyd Ogilvie's picture is on the front, and there is an interview with him about his 8 years in the Senate. It is a clue about why he has been such an inspiration to so many Senators. The questioner notes:

A current Senator remarked that your prayers often ``make

reference to specific turmoil'' in the Senate.

The questioner goes on:

I understand that sometimes following your opening prayer

you sit through the Senate sessions.

And Lloyd's answer was:

The task of any spiritual leader is to listen. You can't

minister to individuals or to a group unless you know what is

going on. That is the reason that I have to be there.

Lloyd Ogilvie has been a counselor. He is a minister. He is a listener--maybe a listener above all. I have found in my conversations with him that I suspect he knows more about the Senate than any other individual because he knows the hearts of the Senators.

So I rise to thank him, to wish him the very best with his wife Mary Jane, and to let him know that one more Senator has been touched by his presence here in a very short period of time.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the interview with Dr. Ogilvie that appears in the March 2003 edition of ``Decision,'' the Billy Graham publication.

I thank the Senator.

Mr. President, I take this opportunity to pay tribute to Lloyd Ogilvie, our Chaplain. I have told him of the deep affection that I and my wife Joyce have for him and Mary Jane. I wish I could reach as deeply into the writings of Robert Burns as he is able to and come up with exactly the right epigram.

I will point out that he and I share the common experience of living in Scotland as young men. He, there while he was studying for the ministry, and I, there while I was serving as a missionary for my church. In that experience, each of us gained deep respect for the Scottish people and Scottish traditions.

That is why you find me today sporting the tartan of my family, the Wallace tartan. My father served in this body as Wallace Bennett, coming from a long line of Wallaces, including one William Wallace. Whether it was the William Wallace who morphed as Mel Gibson onto the silver screen or not, I am not sure.

Lloyd Ogilvie has made his mark here in a tremendous way, and he deserves all of the wonderful things everyone has said about him. I simply quote a hymn that we sing often in our church. I don't think it is unique to our church, but we sing at this time when young men go out in the circumstance I have just described--go off to a foreign land or to a foreign part of the world to preach the gospel. We sing to them:

God be with you till we meet again;

When life's perils thick confound you;

Put His arms unfailing round you;

God be with you till we meet again.

This is what I say to Mary Jane and Lloyd Ogilvie, from all of us. God be with you till we meet again.

Mr. President, we had the opportunity this morning to hear the last prayer of our Senate Chaplain, Lloyd Ogilvie, a man who has touched each of our lives in a different and very special way. All of us in here have reached an age where if we took a few moments and tried to list the people outside of our immediate families who really had an impact on us, it would probably be a pretty short list, if we were candid with ourselves.

I have been doing a bit of that the last couple of days, thinking about Lloyd, his contribution here, and the fact he is now going home to take up the challenge of providing care for his wonderful wife Mary Jane.

I have decided my list would be very short, indeed, outside of my immediate family. On that list would, indeed, be Lloyd Ogilvie, who has had a powerful impact on my life. I will never, ever forget him.

We all love him and we care for him. Even though we will not see him as much in the coming years, I hope each of us for whom he has made such a difference will make an extra effort to stay in touch with our dear friend in the coming years.

So, Lloyd Ogilvie, thanks for all you did for all of us. Good luck in the future. Thanks for making a difference.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, if I may before the Senator from Tennessee leaves, he may not have been in the Senate very long--a couple of months--but the Senator from Tennessee has picked up the essence of Lloyd Ogilvie and why he is so widely admired, respected, and loved around here.

I thank the Senator from Tennessee for his contribution.

Mr. President. Eight years ago today, Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie became our Senate Chaplain. Today, as he leaves the Senate, I wish to thank Dr. Ogilvie for his spiritual guidance and friendship.

Dr. Ogilvie is a greet scholar and preacher. Yet he has been so much more to our Senate family. I am particularly grateful for the hospitality Dr. Ogilvie has shown to all religions. He hosted Jewish seders. He invited Cardinals to the Senate. He made sure that religious leaders of all faiths have led the Senate in prayer.

I also appreciate the creative and energetic way he reached out to the entire Senate family. He has led Bible study groups and prayer meetings for Senators and staff. He has provided individual counseling for anyone who has asked for it.

Since September 11, our Nation and our Senate have faced great stress and uncertainty. On September 11, during the anthrax attacks, and now as our Nation prepares for a possible war, Dr. Ogilvie has helped the Senate family to become stronger through faith and prayer.

I also wish to thank Reverend Ogilvie's wife, Mary Jane, who has been such an important partner to him and such a dear friend to all of us in the Senate. I wish the Ogilvies well as they move to California to begin a new chapter in their lives. They will always be in my thoughts and prayers.