Floor Statements

Mr. President, I wish to start out today with a little context.

For more than a year, President Obama and Democrats in Congress have known, as well as I have, that every single taxpayer is scheduled to get slammed with an automatic tax hike on January 1, and for an entire year, they have been running out the clock.

Think about it. For President Obama, there is no better outcome than for taxes to go up on absolutely everybody. Why do I say that? Why does the President want taxes to go up on absolutely everybody? Because, frankly, that is the only way to pay for the big government this President wants. You have to raise taxes on everybody--the super-rich, the rich, the middle class, the lower class--you name it. Everybody has to have a tax increase because if all you do is whack the so-called rich, you only get enough money for about a week of government. If all you do is whack the super-rich, you only get enough money for about a week of government. So let's be clear about this matter. He wants to soak everybody, and there is only one way to do it, and that is exactly what he gets if we do nothing.

If that wasn't obvious before this week, it should be perfectly obvious now. Here we are less than a week before Christmas, and what is the President doing? What is his quarterback here in the Senate, the majority leader, doing? They have been playing Lucy and the football with the American people for months. They have said no to every single proposal that has been offered to avoid this tax hike, including their own. They are running out the clock, moving the goalposts, sitting on their hands. They aren't doing anything.

Well, I say enough. Enough. The time for games is over. The President may want to soak the American people to fund his vision of a social welfare state, but we are not going to let him do it.

Later today Republicans in the House will pass a bill that protects more than 99 percent--99 percent--of Americans from the tax hike Democrats want to slap them with within 2 weeks. The House bill will protect 99 percent of America's taxpayers from the tax hike that is coming in 2 weeks.

As I have said endlessly, we don't want to see taxes go up on anybody or anything. The problem isn't that government taxes too little, it is that it spends too much. The problem isn't that government taxes too little, it is that it spends too much.

But the President is determined to leap off the cliff. Well, we are not going to let him take the middle class with him. We are going to do everything we can to protect the American people from this scheme.

There is no reason in the world that Democrats actually shouldn't join us. I have literally a book of quotes from Democrats saying they want to protect the middle class.

It was the theme of the recently completed campaign. Well, here is your chance. We are at the end of the line. We have one chance to put your money where your mouth is and that is by voting on the bill the House sends over later today.

It will be, obviously, up to the majority leader to act. Will the majority leader act to protect the American taxpayers? Will he sit on his hands and do absolutely nothing? Will the Senate just sit back and watch the tax rates go up or will the Senate act? Enough is enough. Let's get this done. Let's show the American people we are working on their behalf. It is time to act to prevent this tax increase on 99 percent of America's taxpayers.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I rise to pay tribute to a dear friend and an extraordinary public servant, Senator Jon Kyl. For the past 18 years, it has been my honor to serve alongside Jon in the Senate, and it has been my great privilege to get to know him personally and to work with him as closely as I have.

Jon has built a well-earned reputation as one of the great policy minds of our time. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of domestic and a keen interest in foreign policy, and we all know he is one of the hardest working Members of Congress.

He has been a leader on his own State's interests, and he has emerged as one of the strongest leaders in our entire party on the issues of nuclear strategy and arms control. Jon has explained to an entire generation of Republicans President Reagan's enduring philosophy of peace on strength and then applied it.

Jon has been a zealous proponent of a strong missile defense, and more than any other Senator he helped ensure that the United States had a working nuclear arsenal after the Cold War had ended because, in his view, a strong America that can deter a threat is always the best avenue to peace.

Over the past decade, Jon has applied that same standard to the war on terror, and no one, no one has worked harder to explain the threat of Islamist terrorism or helped equip our Nation with the tools we need to confront and defeat it than Jon Kyl.

Not enough thought has been given to the role of nuclear weapons in American foreign policy and how strategy will evolve as our conventional military is drawn down due to a diminishing investment and how nuclear weapons will be employed to support the articulated strategic pivot to the Asian Pacific theater. The Senate and the country will be well served by Jon's thoughts on these challenges over the coming years. Fortunately, he has thought ahead by encouraging others to step into the void after he leaves.

Throughout his time in Washington, Jon has been guided, as he explained in eloquent detail yesterday, by a profound belief in and commitment to the expansion of freedom and the three primary areas where that commitment plays out in the public square: growth-oriented economics, the social policies that make limited government possible, and any policy that emphasizes a strong and sovereign America. These three pillars have been Jon's guidepost, and we have all benefited tremendously over the years as a party and as a nation from his faithful application and patient explanation of the enduring importance of all three.

In short, Jon is whip smart, and he is a passionate believer and defender of American exceptionalism. But besides all this, he is also a fantastic individual, with a peerless reputation on both sides of the aisle as a man of principle and integrity. I have personally benefited from Jon's policy mind and advice countless times, and, Jon, I want to say how grateful I am for your steady hand and wise counsel over the years.

I always knew I could throw Jon into the middle of any fight, confident our team would own the field. He wasn't just prepared, he was eager to take on the most thankless tasks, and he never ever let me down.

One suspects the seeds of Jon's wisdom and equanimity were planted in his upbringing in the Midwest. As a young boy growing up in Nebraska and Iowa, he learned the value of hard work. His dad led the local chamber of commerce and worked as a high school principal and superintendent. Later on, he joined Jon's uncle in the clothing business--and eventually he served six terms in Congress.

It was a stable, happy, middle-class childhood centered on work, family, and service. It laid a solid foundation for Jon's later successes. ``It was very important to Dad,'' Jon once said, ``that we recognize that even though we weren't rich, we still had an obligation to get involved and give back to the country.''

After graduating from high school, Jon enrolled at the University of Arizona, where he was very much the bundle of energy that anybody who has ever walked more than 10 feet with him is familiar with. Incidentally, I am told that you don't want to go on a hike with Jon unless you are a trained Olympian. He hikes up Camelback Mountain almost every weekend he is home, and there are two routes; one is somewhat challenging and the other one is akin to a Stairmaster. Jon takes the Stairmaster because it is faster. He climbs up without stopping, and then as soon as he gets to the top, he comes right back down. Most people stop to eat an apple or look at the vista--not Jon. He powers right back to the bottom. There is too much work to be done.

During his college years, Jon got involved in debate, politics, and a number of service organizations, graduating with honors in 1964. It was also during his college years that Jon fell in love with Arizona, its red sunny vistas, big skies and warm inviting people. It is there that he fell in love with Caryll Collins, whom he met at church one Sunday and who has been his constant companion and his anchor ever since.

I know Jon would agree that without Caryll's support, patience, and understanding he would never have been able to accomplish all he has over the years. Jon and Caryll have been married nearly 50 years. They have raised two great kids, Kristine and John. They have seven grandchildren. They have been blessed.

After college, Jon went on to earn a law degree from the University of Arizona College of Law, where he was editor of the Law Review. He must have had some great teachers because it is hard to imagine anyone who loves the study and the application of the law as deeply as Jon Kyl.

Jon practiced at a firm in Phoenix for 20 years when he decided to follow his father's footsteps instead and take a turn toward public service. As one long-time friend described it:

[Jon] sat down with . . . Caryll, who is really his

partner, and decided it was time. . . . He could have been a

rich man. But he decided this was more important.

Jon ran for Congress in Arizona's Fourth District and won handily, serving eight terms before winning his Senate seat in 1994.

One way to illustrate how hard Jon has worked over the years is to look at the coverage he got then versus the coverage he gets now. When he first ran for office, one unfriendly paper called him an enigma. But by 2006, that same paper would describe him as a ``national, political figure . . . and one of the five most powerful Senators in Washington . . . a man who most everyone says is a hardworking, keenly intelligent, humble, civilized gentleman who seems always to be doing what he believes is best for America.'' Most of us couldn't get that out of our own press secretaries, let alone the hometown paper.

But it says everything we need to know about Jon Kyl. His work ethic is legendary. For 15 years, Jon labored mostly behind the scenes on one of the most complicated and sensitive issues in Arizona politics, settling American Indian claims to Colorado and Gila River water and resolving an intergovernmental dispute about how much money Arizona should pay for the Central Arizona Project, completed in 1993.

These were longstanding, thorny, legal, and political issues in Arizona. Some thought a settlement was impossible. They didn't know Jon well enough. By 2004, he had succeeded in passing the Arizona Water Settlement Act, simultaneously resolving the outstanding Indian lawsuits and resolving the issue of Arizona's reimbursement rate to the Federal Government.

According to one political commentator, ``It was the most far- reaching Indian water settlement in history,'' and it ``wouldn't have happened without the hard work and keen legal mind of Jon Kyl.''

As Jon himself put it:

It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I was

in a position to be the catalyst. There wasn't anybody else

who could do that water deal. And it had to be done.

Jon's work on water settlements carries a lesson for all of us. Similar to any true leader, he saw the need to do something, not just for the folks who elected him but for the generations of Arizonans to come. He thought ahead, and now the people of Arizona can go about their daily lives without having to worry about water at all for generations to come. It will be a huge part of his legacy--and it went more or less unnoticed by most folks in Washington. That is why Jon truly embodies the old maxim, popularized by President Reagan, who had it placed on his desk, that there is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit. He almost seems to relish the thankless task. A lot of people don't know this, but Jon actually volunteered to serve on the supercommittee.

At press conferences, Jon has even been known to lean up against a wall so others get noticed instead of him, which, as we all know, is pretty unthinkable to most of the folks around here.

Jon's intelligence and personal humility are just two of the reasons he has been so good at persuading people to his view. He persuaded his colleagues to oppose President Clinton's Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He has used his immense powers of persuasion literally countless times as minority whip, and he has done all this without ever offending anybody.

He is that rare politician who manages to always stand on principle without ever damaging a relationship. I mean it when I say that to the degree I have had any success at all in my role, it has been only because Jon Kyl has been my partner, counselor, and friend.

Jon always tells folks he is serious because the issues he deals with are serious, and I can't tell you how grateful I am that we have had him for as long as we did and how much I will miss having Jon Kyl around when the gavel falls on the 112th Congress.

One last point. People who know Jon well know he is a huge NASCAR fan. He knows the drivers. He knows the lingo. He goes to two big races every year in Phoenix and nothing, I mean nothing, can keep him from going.

Why do I mention this? As a young lawyer, Jon used to volunteer to be the lookout guy on the hill around the track. This is a guy who keeps a lookout for oil on the track. His view was it might not be the most glamorous work but that it was essential to maintain the safety and the integrity of the race to have someone up there on the lookout. I can't think of a better way to sum up his service in Washington.

Jon has been that serious, behind-the-scenes legislator who always did what needed to be done. He was happy to do the work while others took the credit, and he was happy to explain any issue to anyone and to provide not only the intellectual explanation for the right policy but the elbow grease to get it enacted into law. What mattered to Jon was the good of the country.

He has been a model public servant. And, Jon, I can't tell you how grateful we all are that you were. Thank you for everything, my friend. I truly hate to see you go.

Madam President, there is still time to prevent further damage to the economy and to stop the automatic tax hike on every American that's scheduled to go into effect at the beginning of the New Year. The President has a real opportunity, the second in 2 years, to do something significant about our debt crisis and jumpstart our economy. He has a real opportunity to show he can govern. He is letting that opportunity slip away.

Senate Democrats and the White House now say that a ``balanced approach'' is one that can pass both the House and Senate. But we know that neither the Democrat bill in the Senate, nor the President's plan for more than a trillion dollars in tax hikes meets their own new test of `balance.'

Speaker Boehner, like me, would like to prevent a tax hike on everyone. But given the President's failure to act, the House will soon vote on legislation to prevent a tax hike on anyone making less than a million dollars a year--rather than letting taxes go up on every American taxpayer; in other words, a plan that 53 of our Democrat colleagues here in the Senate already voted to support. It is a plan that would ensure far more American families and small businesses are protected from tax hikes than anything our Democrat friends have proposed.

Democrats will have an opportunity to offer and vote on changes if they no longer agree with their previous positions. But what they cannot do is sit on their hands and let taxes go up on every American taxpayer. Senate Democrats have wasted precious time all year with show votes designed to fail. That has left us with little time to do the real work that needs to be done. But there is still enough time for us to finish all of our work before this weekend, if we are all willing to stay late and work hard. For the sake of the people who sent us here, it can and should be done.

Mr. President, I thank my friend, the majority leader.

Today is indeed a day to celebrate the life and extraordinary service to our country of our friend, Senator Dan Inouye. I will have more to say about that later, but what a remarkable individual he was. It has been our privilege to have the opportunity to get to know him and observe his great work for a very long time.

I thank my friend, the majority leader.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, the U.S. Senate has been conducting its business here in Washington for just over 200 years, and for more than a fifth of that time, Senator Dan Inouye of Hawaii stood in its ranks. It was just one of the many astonishing feats for a man who so rarely called attention to himself but who had every reason in the world to do so. In a life of honors he was never drawn to fanfare, and that always made him a different kind of Senator. So today we mourn not only a friend and a colleague but also everything he represented to a nation that will always need courageous and principled men such as Dan Inouye if it is to flourish and succeed.

The people who worked with Dan Inouye might have known he served in World War II, but they could have gone years without knowing he was one of the most decorated soldiers of his time. To Dan, his achievements were simply part of the job--and they were many. They start with his military heroism, of course, and they continue throughout his long career of public service. He was the iconic political figure of the fiftieth State.

Until his death, he was the only original member of a congressional delegation still serving in Congress, and there is scarcely an acre of Hawaii or a person in the State that Dan hasn't affected or influenced.

Over many years of diligent committee work, he helped ensure an entire generation of uniformed military went into battle well prepared and that they were well cared for when they returned. Yet despite all this, Dan's quiet demeanor and strict adherence to an older code of honor and professionalism made him a stranger to controversy throughout his many decades in public office. He was the kind of man and the kind of public servant, in other words, that America has always been grateful to have, especially in her darkest hours--men who lead by example and expect nothing in return.

One of my favorite Dan Inouye stories took place right here in the Capitol back in 1959. The memory of a hard-fought war against the Japanese was fresh in many minds as the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, prepared to administer the oath to a young war hero who was not only the first Member from Hawaii but the first American of Japanese descent ever elected to Congress.

''Raise your right hand and repeat after me . . . '' Rayburn said.

And here is how another Congressman would later record what followed:

The hush deepened as the young Congressman raised not his

right hand but his left and repeated the oath of office.

There was no right hand. It had been lost in combat by that

young American soldier in World War II. And who can deny that

at that moment, a ton of prejudice slipped quietly to the

floor of the House of Representatives.

It is a perfect image of how Dan led by example throughout his long career--with quiet dignity and unquestioned integrity.

It started early for Dan. As a young boy growing up in Hawaii, he and his

friends always thought of themselves as Americans. Yet after Pearl Harbor they suddenly found themselves lumped in with the enemy. It was one of the reasons so many of them felt such an intense desire to serve. Their loyalty and patriotism had been questioned, and they were determined to prove their allegiance beyond any doubt.

When the Army lifted its ban on Japanese Americans, Dan and his friends jumped at the chance to serve. An astonishing 80 percent of military-age men of Japanese descent who lived in Hawaii volunteered-- 80 percent. Mr. President, 2,686 of them were accepted, including Dan, who was an 18-year-old student at the University of Hawaii.

Together, they formed what would become the most decorated military unit in American history, the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team. As platoon leader, Dan spent 3 bloody months in the Rome Arno campaign and 2 brutal weeks rescuing a Texas battalion that was surrounded by German forces, an operation military historians often describe as one of the most significant battles of the 20th century.

After the rescue, Dan was sent back to Italy, where on April 21, 1945, in a ridge near San Terenzo, he displayed the extraordinary bravery for which he would later receive the Medal of Honor. Dan then spent nearly 2 years in a Michigan Army hospital where he also met Bob Dole and Philip Hart.

Dan had always wanted to be a surgeon, but that dream faded away on that ridge in Italy. Instead, he became a very fine Senator and one of the most impressive and effective public servants of our time.

Dan never let narrow party interests stand in the way of friendship or cooperation on matters of real national importance. His friendship with former Republican Senator Ted Stevens was one of the most storied in all of Senate history. I know I never hesitated to call on Dan when I thought something truly important was at stake. As Dan always said: ``To have friends, you've got to be a friend.''

It is a good principle. It is one he always lived up to. And it is one that is needed now more than ever.

Elaine and I extend to Irene and the entire Inouye family our deepest sympathy on their loss, which is also the Nation's loss. It was a privilege to have worked alongside this good man and to call him a friend. We will miss him. Yet we are consoled by the thought that he has now finally heard those words he longed to hear: ``Well done, good and faithful servant . . . enter into your master's joy.''

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who will be retiring at the end of the year. Senator Hutchison has been a dear friend and colleague for a long time. She has always been ready to offer wise counsel, and I have usually listened.

It is truly bittersweet saying goodbye to Kay. On the one hand, I understand her desire to spend more time with Bailey and Houston; we are all glad she will now be able to cheer from the sidelines at their soccer games. On the other hand, we will miss seeing them practice their corner kicks on the second floor of the Russell building.

By the way, if you have ever been with Kay on one of her early morning power walks, you know where her kids get their energy. I am told Kay has worn out multiple Members of Congress, several staffers, and quite a few others on those walks. And it is a fitting metaphor for her career. There are so many talents in the Senate, it is easy to forget what remarkable stories many of them have. And Senator Hutchison's is without question one of the most impressive.

Raised in an era when women were a rarity in politics, Kay forged her own path, kicking open the door of opportunity wherever she went. In the process, she has come to personify Texan independence; which is entirely fitting, since one of Kay's great-great-great grandfathers signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Kay's many successes in life are a testament to her personal toughness and determination in the face of what would have seemed like insurmountable obstacles to many lesser talents. Though she was ``brought up,'' as she once put it, ``to be a lady, to have good manners--and to be ready to get married,'' she always excelled in school. And she was one of just a handful of women, out of a class of hundreds, to graduate from her University of Texas law school class in 1967.

Kay hit what she called her ``first brick wall'' after graduation. Law firms in Texas just were not hiring women back then, so she turned to an industry that would give her a chance, becoming Houston's first female news reporter. Indeed, thanks to Kay's success, two competing Houston networks hired female reporters within 6 months of her arrival at KPRC-TV, the NBC affiliate, in 1967. Appropriately, Kay was assigned to cover the Texas Legislature, and she gave it her all.

Having inherited her dad's work ethic, she was soon being encouraged to run for office herself. At the time, few women served in the Texas legislature, and not a single female Republican had ever been elected to the State House. But Kay had an idea: if those law firms were not going to let her interpret the law, she might as well ask her neighbors if they would elect her to make the law. So, at the age of 28, Kay ran for the Texas House. She dispatched her male opponents with ease, becoming one of just 13 Republicans elected that year to the 150-member Texas House. It was a tough transition. Kay says that as a cheerleader at UT, she was not really prepared for the combat of politics. As a cheerleader, she said, she wanted everybody to like her. But she overcame that too. Kay has engaged in a lot of tough battles over the years, and she has won most of them.

One story along those lines relates to Kay's office over in Russell. Anybody who has ever been there knows that it is at the end of on a dead-end hallway, and that at the very end stands a very large flag of Texas. Apparently, when Kay put the flag out, the staff director of the Rules Committee did not like it. He thought it violated a rule, so he mentioned it to his boss, Senator John Warner. Legend has it that Senator Warner nodded gravely--gravely--at the young man and told him he was free to approach Senator Hutchison, but that he had no intention of taking on the mission himself. She is tough.

Following her service in the State legislature, Kay worked as a businesswoman before winning election as State treasurer in 1990. Three years later, when Senator Lloyd Bentsen accepted an offer to become President Clinton's treasury secretary, Kay jumped into the race to replace him. Once again, she bested another all-male field to advance to a runoff against Bentsen's appointed successor, trouncing the incumbent Democrat with nearly 70 percent of the vote, and becoming the first woman to represent the Nation's second-largest State in the U.S. Senate.

Kay came to Washington ready to work. She established herself early on as a leader on transportation and NASA, and as a fighter for lower taxes, and smaller, smarter government. Kay won acclaim as an advocate for science and competitiveness, helped secure bipartisan support for the landmark America COMPETES Act, and she became known throughout the State for the close attention she paid to constituents.

Shortly after her election to the Senate, Kay began a tradition-- imitated by many others since--of holding weekly constituent meetings over coffee whenever the Senate is in session. The groups usually range in size from about 100 to 150, and at any given coffee you might come across families in Bermuda shorts, bankers in pinstripes, or college football players. Over the years, Kay has hosted about 50,000 people in her office through these coffees, but her attention to constituent service goes well beyond that. Back home, she is one of few politicians in Texas who have actually visited all 254 counties, some of which are home to more cattle than people. And during Kay's tenure, her office has helped broker the rescue of a Texan from atop Mt. Everest, evacuate an oil worker and students during a revolution in Albania, evacuate tourists from Machu Pichu after a flood, and help evacuate workers and missionaries from Haiti after the devastating hurricanes of 2008.

All of us are grateful to Senator Hutchison for her work in finally recognizing the hundreds of female Army Air Force pilots--or WASPs--who flew non-combat missions in World War II, so male pilots would be free for combat missions. Thirty-eight of these women lost their lives performing their duties. We thank Senator Hutchison for raising awareness of their service and their sacrifice and honoring their memory. Senator Hutchison's thoughts are never far from our men and women in uniform. Her office walls are filled with photos of her visits with our troops in Bosnia, Iraq, and elsewhere. In the run-up to the Budget Control Act, she authored a bill to assure servicemen and women would be paid in the event of a government shutdown, recruiting more than 80 cosponsors. She served as chair and ranking member of the Military Construction subcommittee on Appropriations. She was a tenacious advocate for Texas during a series of BRACs, and the results speak for themselves: Today, one out of five Army and Air Force personnel are stationed at military installations in Texas, many of which were once considered likely candidates for closing.

Throughout her Senate career, Kay has worked hard to develop and maintain close relationships with fellow female senators from both parties. As a result of those friendships, Kay helped co-author the book ``Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate'' in 2000, teamed up with Senator Feinstein to create the Amber Alert system, and co- authored legislation with Senator Mikulski to provide stay-at-home moms with the same tax-credit opportunities as working women. One of her proudest achievements was to lead the successful flight to lessen the marriage penalties in our tax code.

As the ranking member on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Kay has wielded outsize influence, partly due to her strong working relationship with Chairman Rockefeller, who sometimes refers to her as his co-chairperson. And I can say for myself that having Kay at the leadership table has been a tremendous asset as I have navigated challenges over the years.

A truly gifted politician, Kay secured reelection by wide margins in 1994, 2000, and 2006, and still holds the record for most votes in Texas history. One reason is she will work with anyone--even those with whom she might not typically agree--if it helps Texas.

While I know many are sorry to see this giant of Texas politics leave the arena in Washington, I am sure every one of them admires the spirit in which she returns to Ray and the kids and their busy Dallas home. Kay, on behalf of the entire Senate, thank you for your extraordinary service and for your friendship.

I know you won't miss having to answer to that buzzer anymore, but we will miss you. It has been a privilege to serve with you. On behalf of the entire Senate family, I wish you all the very best.

Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to my good friend and an extraordinary leader of my hometown of Louisville, KY: Dr. James Ramsey, the president of the University of Louisville. President Ramsey celebrated a milestone for the University of Louisville recently when it was announced that UofL was unanimously welcomed into the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The ACC has a great history, a proud athletic tradition, and is home to some truly astonishing academic schools. Thanks to Jim's work as president over the last decade, the University of Louisville is able to stand toe to toe with any of them, in any of those categories.

Dr. Ramsey is the 17th president of the university, and has held that post since 2002. In his 10 years at the helm, he has worked every day to make UofL one of the very best metropolitan research universities in the country. It is safe to say, he is succeeding.

Since 2002, the quality of UofL's freshman class has improved every year, with the average incoming freshman ACT score rising from 23.2 in 2002 to 24.7 in 2011. The graduation rate has increased nearly 60 percent, and the number of doctoral degrees awarded by the school has more than doubled since 2002.

UofL students are also winning national acclaim and prestigious academic honors. In 2009, UofL produced its fourth Rhodes Scholar, who was also the first woman from UofL to win the award.

In 2010 and 2011, 14 UofL students won coveted Fulbright scholarships, placing UofL among the nation's top 20 Fulbright- producing institutions each year. Since 2003, 68 UofL students have received Fulbright scholarships, which is more than all other Kentucky schools combined.

President Ramsey has created a university culture that is focused on research and innovation. This approach has already led to major milestones in health care, business, and the environment. The Chronicle of Higher Education lists the University of Louisville as the fourth fastest growing research university in the country.

UofL's research funding has doubled from a decade ago, and UofL is one of the country's fastest growing research universities in National Institutes of Health funding.

UofL has also strengthened its ties with the city of Louisville in such a way that this school is an invaluable asset, not just to its students, faculty, and alumni, but to all members of the community. UofL has been a major player in the award-winning Partnership for a Green City with Jefferson County Public Schools and Louisville Metro government.

It has also launched a Signature Partnership Initiative to improve education, health care, social services, and economic opportunity in the city. The school is also reaching out to men and women in the Armed Forces, signing education, training, and research agreements with Fort Knox and the Kentucky National Guard.

All of these accomplishments in the last decade have transformed the University of Louisville from a fine local institution to a superb global one--one able to compete with any school in the quality of its students and the caliber of its research. Exciting things are happening at the university, and we have Jim Ramsey to thank.

I want to salute Dr. Ramsey and congratulate him on his superb leadership of the school I am proud to call my alma mater. He and his wife Jane are fixtures of the community, and Elaine and I are honored to call them friends.

I certainly hope Jim will be at the helm of UofL for a long time to come. I will always look forward to working with him on ways to better the school and the city that we both love.

Mr. President, I wish to start by extending my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims of Friday's massacre and to the whole community and to thank the first responders and all those who are helping in the aftermath of this darkest of tragedies.

Three days after the horrors of Newtown, we are all still reeling from what happened. Anytime there is a shooting such as this, we are crushed with sorrow. But there is no escaping the fact that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary stands out for its awfulness. The murder of so many little children and the adults who tried to save them doesn't just break our hearts, it shatters them.

The last few days have been searing for all of us, and the days ahead will be too. Over the weekend, we began to see the faces of the children and to hear their stories.

One parent, Robbie Parker, stood in front of the cameras on Saturday and shared with the Nation an impromptu eulogy of his 6-year-old daughter Emilie. It was a remarkable moment. Emilie was bright and creative and very loving, he said, and we marveled at his courage. Now the funerals--10 of them this week in 1 church alone.

It has been said many times that no words are adequate to lift the agony of a parent such as Robbie Parker. What happened in Newtown on Friday is something for which no parent of a young child could ever prepare. But I think President Obama spoke for all of us in the very moving meditation he offered last night on the singularity of parental love.

There is literally nothing we wouldn't do for our kids and that is one of the things that makes this massacre so terrible and which makes the stories of courage we have heard so inspiring; the young teacher who stood between the gunman and her students and lost her life in the process; the principal and the school psychologist who sprang into action and gave their lives too. As the President said, these luminous acts of self-sacrificing love are the moments that will define this tragedy in the years ahead because the heroism and the courage we never fail to see in the midst of tragedies such as this become the starting points of something better and more lasting than the vagaries of this life. They give us the hope we need in the face of so much evil and sorrow.

We stand with the people of Newtown today and in the days ahead. We can do nothing to lessen their anguish, but we can let them know we mourn with them, that we share a tiny part of the burden in our own hearts, and that we will lift the victims and their families and the entire community in prayer.

The Scripture says that while ``now we only know in part, in the life to come we shall know, even as we are known.''

Scripture also says that in that day ``. . . every tear will be wiped away, because there will be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain, for the former things will have passed away.''

May the people of Newtown and all Americans be consoled by this certain hope. May their burdens be lightened by the loving care of their neighbors and friends and even strangers in the days and weeks ahead. May this terrible tragedy prompt all of us to cherish the lives we have been given, our family members and friends and all who surround us in our daily tasks.

This is no lasting city, we know. May we pass through it with a little more gratitude and with a firmer determination to live the kind of lives we have been called to live.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I too am going to address the remarkable life of Senator Inouye at a later time, but I did want to make some observations here for a few moments at the time of his passing.

Senator Inouye was a man who, as we all know, rarely called attention to himself but who lived a remarkable American life filled with the dignity and grace of the true hero he was.

He was only 17 when he heard the sirens over Honolulu and saw the great planes flying overhead. At the time he dreamed of being a surgeon. A few years later a medic would be taking care of him after his heroic action in the Italian mountains, for which he would one day receive our Nation's most prestigious award for military valor.

Dan Inouye's dream of being a surgeon was not realized but there were other things in store. Instead, he became a member of one of the most decorated U.S. military units in American history and one of our Nation's longest serving and finest Senators.

An iconic political figure of his beloved Hawaii, and the only original member of the congressional delegation still serving in Congress, he was a man who had every reason to call attention to himself but who never did.

He was the kind of man, in short, that America has always been grateful to have, especially in our darkest hours--men who lead by example and who expect nothing in return.

Madam President, I would like to continue the difficult task of saying goodbye to Senators who will not be with us in the next Congress. Sadly, that includes Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

Senator Brown came to us already something of a political legend. In just a few short years, he leaves behind an outsized legacy. We all remember how Scott rose to national prominence in the election literally heard about around the world. After the death of Senator Kennedy, there was an open seat in Massachusetts and a special election to fill it. Few people even entertained the thought of a Republican winning. And for good reason. Few States are as synonymous with political liberalism.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in the State 3 to 1, and the entire congressional delegation is composed of Democrats. But supported by his wife Gail and their daughters, along with some key early allies, including our own Senator McCain, Scott appealed to the State's political independents, ran a flawless campaign, and won. As he put it on election night, he beat the odds and the experts, and the people became the machine. I think the 2006 GMC Canyon that Scott drove around during the election should actually go to the Smithsonian.

We all remember that night, and, in particular, Scott's acceptance speech. Most people focus on what he said about his daughters, but the speech itself was a masterpiece. It perfectly summed up the political moment, and it captured something essential about Scott's success; that is, the notion that no politician has a right to his or her seat; that we are all here to serve our constituents.

Every day I hold this office, Scott said, ``I will give all that is in me to serve you well and to make you proud . . . [and] most of all, I will remember that while the honor is mine, this Senate seat belongs to no one person and to no political party, and as I have said before, and you said loud and clear today, it is the people's seat.''

Scott lived up to his promise. He captured the imagination of the entire country when he corrected David Gergen by telling him the so- called Kennedy seat was, in fact, the people's seat. He carried that message straight to Washington.

I remember Scott telling me in our very first meeting that I could not count on his vote, that I would have to earn it. I told him he could do whatever he pleased. While he has not been here long, he has certainly made his mark. I have seen a lot of politicians in my day, but few have been as talented as Scott Brown. He is a unique talent. I have no doubt we will see him back in Washington someday in the not too distant future.

The truth is, Scott's victory was not the first time he had done what others thought impossible. As a young man, he knew poverty first hand, and a broken home, and even took to shoplifting to feed himself and his sister. Yet Scott overcame these early challenges. As is often the case, he owes a lot of it to an adult who saw his potential early on.

In Scott's case, that adult was Judge Samuel Zoll. When Scott showed up in his chambers one day, Judge Zoll saw a troubled but decent young man who needed a friendly nudge.

``We had a long talk about [the] talent I thought he had, and I didn't want to see him squander it,'' Judge Zoll later recalled.

Scott, of course, remembers it a little differently, saying the judge ``verbally kicked [his] butt.''

The judge ordered Scott to write a 1,500-word essay about disappointing his family. After reading it, he told Scott he would give him a break this time, but if he ever stole anything again--anything-- he would be sent to jail. Judge Zoll's lesson stuck so deeply that the two men remained friends until Judge Zoll's death last year.

Scott went on to be a baseball star in high school and in college, earning the nickname ``Downtown Scotty Brown.'' That was for his accuracy with a 3-point shot. Then he went to law school, the Army National Guard, held city and State political office, where he was 1 of just 5 Republicans in a body of 40 in the State senate and then the U.S. Senate.

Senator Brown also famously found time to do a little modeling in his youth, and it was through this work that he met his wife Gail. I have had the pleasure to get to know Scott and Gail well over the last 3 years. They have two daughters and make an absolutely wonderful family. I am sure Gail, Ayla, and Arianna are very proud of Scott and just as sad as I am to see his tenure cut short. But they should be proud of the fact that Scott has accomplished a lot in 3 short years in the Senate.

He led the charge to repeal a burdensome withholding tax that hurt small businesses. He crafted legislation for crowdfunding, which allowed job creators to raise startup funds for their businesses over the Internet with less redtape, and he introduced legislation to ensure that children's hospitals have access to discounts on orphan drugs that are used to treat rare diseases. All of these bills are now law.

As a 32-year member of the National Guard, Senator Brown takes a special interest in our men and women in uniform and their families. He introduced legislation to give businesses incentives to hire veterans, who, sadly, have

higher unemployment rates than the national average. He introduced and saw to passage legislation creating the Office of Service Member Affairs to protect troops who are often targeted by financial fraud and scams. He saw to the passage of legislation making it easier to void government contracts with businesses found to be funneling taxpayer resources to terrorist groups. He fought for National Guard members and their families to receive their fair housing allowance when deployed overseas.

Although his work in the Senate has come to an end, I am sure Scott Brown's work in public service, in whatever capacity, will not. He is still a young man with a bright future ahead of him. I, for one, am very much looking forward to seeing how he uses his talents next.

From the statehouse to the Senate, from the modeling shoot to the basketball court, Senator Scott Brown has always made his own success. I do not think he knows any other way.

Scott, it has been an honor serving with you. You not only made history, you made a difference. You should be proud.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, yesterday I came to the floor to point out something that shouldn't need repeating but does: Any agreement on

debt and deficit reduction has to include cuts on government spending.

The reason I shouldn't have to repeat this is because the President himself has been running around the country for 2 years saying any agreement has to be balanced--meaning both revenue and cuts. This was the message he ran on, and it also happens to be one that the overwhelming majority of Americans actually support, especially the part about cuts, which more than three-fourths say they support. If you heard some of the wasteful projects I detailed yesterday, you would see why.

I don't think there is a single person outside of Washington who doesn't think we waste massive amounts of money in this town and who doesn't wonder why it is so hard for us to agree to cut back. Yet now, with the election behind him, President Obama is suddenly silent on the need for spending cuts. He keeps talking about balance. That polls well, but when it comes to specific cuts he is largely silent. All of a sudden it is all tax hikes all the time. Forget balance. Just raise taxes and spend even more.

The President and his allies have taken so many things off the table, the only thing left is the varnish. The President now seems to think, after his reelection, if all he talks about is the need for tax hikes and that is all reporters write about, we will all magically forget the part about needing balance. It is a classic bait-and-switch, and we are seeing new versions of it nearly every day now.

Democrats campaigned for 2 years saying we needed to take a balanced approach to our problems. Yet now that the President has been reelected, they are walking back, and the only thing left are the taxes. What the President should be doing after his reelection is bringing people together and showing that he has the desire and the ability to lead the two parties to an agreement that is good for the economy and good for the country.

So far, at least, he has chosen a different path--a path aimed at pleasing the most partisan elements of his base. A month after his reelection and weeks before the fiscal cliff, he would still rather campaign than cooperate. We will find out this week if he has the will to change paths and get something done or just double down on the campaigning.

Look, the election is over. The President may enjoy these political rallies, but it is time to get serious. The American people are gravely concerned about the Nation's future. They are counting on us to prevent the kind of crisis that we have seen unfolding all across Europe.

Republicans have engaged in these discussions in good faith. We have agreed to make tough choices. The question is, Where is the President? Where is the President? Where is the only man in the country who can make it happen?

Well, it appears that with just a couple weeks left to resolve this crisis, he is busy moving the goal posts. Instead of leading as he was elected to do, he is out campaigning and playing games with the Nation's future.

So my sincere plea this morning is that the President get serious; that he put the campaign behind him and lead. If he does, he will have willing partners. The first sign is seriousness--seriousness about spending cuts.

Olympia Snowe

Madam President, yesterday I began the difficult task of saying an early good-bye to now six Members of our conference who will be leaving the Senate at the end of the year. This morning I would like to say a few words about my friend and longtime colleague, Senator Snowe.

She has devoted the last 40 years of her life to serving the people of Maine. It has been an honor to work alongside this remarkable woman for the last 18 years and to see up close her tenacity and tough- mindedness in the service of her constituents. Some have described Senator Snowe's advocacy for Mainers as ferocious, and I think there are few better examples of that than the fight she waged on behalf of Maine after the BRAC recommendations of 2005.

When the list of targeted facilities came out, Senator Snowe mounted what has been described as a relentless months-long campaign akin to a defense at a trial. She marshaled all the data and the best arguments. When decision day finally arrived, not only were two of the three Maine facilities told to remain open, one of them was actually expanded. It is stories such as this that help explain why Olympia's constituents keep sending her back to Washington by such wide margins and why so many were shocked to hear that she would be leaving at the end of the year.

As one shipyard worker in Portsmouth whose job she helped save put it:

We love her, and she loves us. [And] I can't recall ever

saying that publicly about a U.S. Senator, but truly she's

such a wonderful person.

As Senator Snowe will tell you, many of her political views solidified during her modest Maine upbringing. Her parents ran a diner near Augusta. While they didn't have much, her father was adamant she receive a good education. So much so that he was dismayed to learn her kindergarten only lasted half the day. ``He was convinced,'' she once said, ``that I was getting off on the wrong foot.''

It was at school that Olympia first discovered her passion for politics. At St. Basil's Academy, a Greek Orthodox girls' school she attended until she was 15, she won her first election--as dorm president. She later graduated from Edward Little High School in Auburn, ME, and subsequently attended the University of Maine where, in 1969, she earned a degree in political science. It was also in college that she met Peter Snowe. Peter shared Olympia's passion for politics. They married shortly after graduation. In 1972, Peter was elected to the State legislature, while Olympia went to work as a legislative staffer for Maine Congressman Bill Cohen.

The young couple seemed well on their way to building a life together, but in 1973, in the midst of a winter snowstorm, tragedy struck. Peter was killed in a car crash, and at a still young age Olympia was left to build a life for herself.

What could have marked the end of her political aspirations became a new beginning instead. As Olympia once put it, she resolved to ``make a positive out of a terrible negative.'' She ran for office in the special election held to fill her late husband's seat, and she won. It was the start of a long and distinguished career in public service.

Olympia was subsequently reelected to the Maine House in 1974 and elected to the Maine Senate in 1976. In 1978, when Bill Cohen, her friend and former boss, ran for the U.S. Senate, she ran for his seat in the House of Representatives and won again.

At the age of 31, she was at the time the youngest Republican woman ever elected to Congress and 1 of just 16 women in the House. Olympia served eight terms in the House. She was a member of the House Budget Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the former House Select Committee on Aging. Working with an Arizona lawyer named Jon Kyl and a Mississippi whip named Trent Lott, she helped turn minority Republicans into a potent legislative force, ensuring some of the biggest legislative victories of the Reagan era.

It was while serving in the House that Olympia met Jock McKernan, who was a rising political star in his own right. Elected as Maine's second Congressman in 1982, Jock served alongside Olympia in the House and was later elected Governor of Maine. The two were married in 1989, and they have been a great team since. As Olympia puts it:

I have a wonderful partner in life. We've been able to ride

the waves together.

When George Mitchell announced his retirement in 1994, Olympia threw her hat into the ring and won by a landslide with 60 percent of the vote against her opponent's 36 percent and carrying every county in the State. Believe it or not, it was the smallest margin of victory she has enjoyed in three Senate races. With this victory, Olympia became the only woman in history to serve in both houses of her State legislature and both Houses of Congress.

In the Senate, Olympia has worked tirelessly as a member of the Finance Committee, the Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and as chair of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

A lot of people like to focus on Olympia's independent streak, but my experience is that she herself has always

cared most deeply about the people of Maine. She has gone through great efforts over the years to talk to her constituents directly. She once said:

I've made main street tours across this state a hallmark of

my tenure in public office. They are like my secret poll.

It is through these tours that Olympia decides which problems to fix--whether it was storm relief after the 1998 ice storm, the fight I already mentioned to keep Maine's military facilities open, or reauthorization of the Northeast Dairy Compact on behalf of Maine's dairy farmers.

Of course, this isn't to downplay Olympia's penchant for independence or for joining gangs. Senator Snowe's maternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Sparta, which may help explain her fighting spirit. Just like the Spartan King Leonidas, she has never been afraid of a fight--even with members of her own party.

She headed the Centrist Coalition with Senator Breaux. She cochaired the Common Ground Coalition with Senator Landrieu. In 1999 she was one of five Republicans to vote to acquit President Clinton of both articles of impeachment. And in 2005 she joined the bipartisan Gang of 14, which helped defuse an earlier dispute about threats to change the Senate rules.

Yet what many fail to mention is that despite her vaunted independence, Olympia has always been a very proud Republican. She recently said:

We believe as Republicans that the individual is more

important than the state. We believe that the great days of

our past can be a stepping stone to an even greater future.

We believe a job is preferential to a handout and

independence is better than dependence. We believe that the

private sector is more productive than big government will

ever be.

When it comes to a balanced budget--a top priority for the party-- Senator Snowe has been a true leader. She has been a long-time supporter of a balanced budget amendment. As far back as 1993, when she was still serving in the House, she was one of four initial sponsors of the legislation that would have mandated a balanced budget. One of her first acts as a Senator was to deliver a speech before a Senate committee in support of a balanced budget amendment.

Olympia's many accomplishments have attracted broad notice outside of Washington. In 2004 Forbes named her ``one of 100 most powerful women in the world,'' rating her even more influential than J.K. Rowling or Oprah. In 2006 Time named her one of the ``ten best senators,'' noting that she is ``in the center of every policy debate in Washington.''

I do not think anything compares with the honor that was bestowed on Senator Snowe by the townspeople of Bethel, ME, who, in 1999, created the ``Olympia SnowWoman,'' a 122-foot tall snowman that still ranks as the tallest snowman--or woman--ever built. It required 13 million pounds of snow, took more than 1 month to build, wore a 100-foot-long scarf, had two entire 27-foot evergreen trees for arms, and required 16 pairs of skis for eyelashes.

``It's just my luck,'' Senator Snowe said of the monument, ``I'd have a world record breaking monument named after me, and it will be gone by summer.''

Olympia, you have had a truly remarkable career. We thank you for your service to this Chamber and most especially to the people of the great State of Maine. We wish you all the best in the next phase of your life and, as you think of what to put in your memoir, I would only ask one thing: Please, go easy on us.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, over the past few weeks, we have been discussing a plan by the Democratic leadership to break the rules of the Senate in order to change the rules of the Senate; in other words, the nuclear option. This plan would break their very clear commitment, which was given at the end of 2006 when they were still serving in the minority, to respect the rights of the minority. It would break their promise to follow the Golden Rule, and it would break their pledge to never, ever use the nuclear option to break the Senate rules.

They have governed in a much different way. Their actions yesterday on the pending bill related to the Transaction Account Guarantee Program illustrate well the heavyhanded ``my way or the highway'' manner of running the Senate.

Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly to get on this bill--voted overwhelmingly to get on the bill. We soon found out, however, that no good deed goes unpunished. Less than a minute after agreeing to adopt a motion to proceed to the bill, the Democratic majority filled the amendment tree to prevent any Senator, Republican or Democrat, from offering any amendments.

Republicans have significant, on-point amendments we would like to offer. For example, Senator Corker has an amendment that requires the FDIC to charge the full premium necessary to cover the cost of this insurance. Senator Vitter has a similar amendment. Senator Corker also has an amendment that would make participation in the TAG Program voluntary so banks don't have to pay premiums for insurance they don't use. Senator Wicker has an amendment that would limit the term and exposure of the extension of the TAG Program.

Other Members on both sides of the aisle have additional amendments that are relevant to this bill. No Senators, however, Republican or Democrat, will get to offer any of these amendments because of the autocratic manner in which the Democratic majority is handling this legislation, which is, by the way, the same way they have handled the previous bills nearly 70 times.

Within 2 minutes, after blocking out all amendments, the Democratic leadership filed cloture on the bill so our friends could end debate on this legislation before it even began. This procedural hard ball, like blocking out all amendments by filling the amendment tree, is all too common.

This is the 107th time the Democratic majority has moved to cut off debate on a matter, be it a bill, an amendment, or a conference report, on the very same day--the very same day the Senate began considering the matter. And to boot, this is a bill that never went through committee. Like so many other bills the Senate has considered under the Democratic majority, it was written behind closed doors. This has happened nearly 70 times as well.

In short, what happened on this bill is a prime example of the Democratic leadership's hat trick: bypass the committee process to write a bill behind closed doors; prevent anyone, Republican or Democrat, from representing their constituents by offering an amendment; and then move to end debate on the bill--again, this is a bill that never went through committee and that no one was allowed to amend--on the very same day the Senate takes up the bill. The Democratic leadership, no doubt, likes running the Senate this way because it gives them nearly total control--nearly total control--or, as they prefer to describe it, this approach is ``efficient.'' Efficient. Now that they are no longer in the minority, this is what they believe the Senate should aspire to be.

One can describe this heavyhanded approach in a lot of ways, but you can't say it comports with their promise to

respect minority rights. You certainly can't say it is an example of the golden rule, and you can't say it resembles anything like how the Senate used to be run, how the Senate is supposed to be run, and how our Democratic colleagues promised they would run it. The heavyhanded way the Democratic majority is handling this bill is a prime example of the fact that we don't have a rules problem around here, we have an attitude problem around here.

So I would call on my Democratic colleagues--especially those who are not in the leadership and who have the experience and wisdom that comes from serving in the minority--to work with us to get the Senate back to how it is supposed to function. I urge them not to be complicit in irreparably changing the Senate as an institution that respects the rights of the minority and the views of the constituents whom the minority represents.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.