Floor Statements

I ask unanimous consent that on December 22, 2006, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 a.m, committees have the authority to file special reports on nonlegislative matters only. This does not include executive matters such as treaties or nominations, nor does it allow committees to report bills or resolutions after the sine die adjournment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President of the Senate, the President pro tempore, and the majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions, committees, boards, conferences, or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law, by concurrent action of the two Houses, or by order of the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment of the Senate, the majority leader, the junior Senator from Virginia, and the junior Senator from Mississippi be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned sine die pursuant to the provisions of H. Con. Res. 503, until 12 noon on Thursday, January 4.

Mr. President, today we were able to finish up our work in a very successful way before we leave for the year. We passed a continuing funding resolution, the critical tax extenders package, and a number of important legislative items, as well as a list of executive nominations. We have had a long week--a productive week--and I do want to thank all my colleagues for their patience and their dedicated efforts.

As we close, I also want to thank all of the staff at the desk and those in the offices above this Chamber and below this Chamber who will be here long after we adjourn, preparing and finalizing all of the business we have just completed.

I would be remiss if I did not recognize the pages who are with us tonight, and those who are not with us tonight, but those who have all left their home States to come to Washington for the semester to work in this Chamber.

We thank each and every one of you for your tremendous, tremendous work. It is 4:34 a.m. now, and we have finished a long day, and people always laugh when I say being Senate majority leader is like doing heart transplants. But times like this make it all very clear that they are very similar because at about 4:34 a.m. in the morning, we would be putting those last few stitches in the transplanted heart. And as you do that, you begin to feel that anticipation of that heart, all of a sudden starting to beat again and coming alive, which gives new life and rebirth to an individual who would otherwise die.

I say that because that is what I would be doing if I were not here, and I was doing 12, 13 years ago. I may well be doing it next year. But that sort of change is good. And change can be, as I said yesterday, constructive. It can be rebirth. And it can give real hope.

I gave my formal remarks on leaving the Senate yesterday, but the words I speak over the next 2 minutes are the very last I will ever give in this Chamber. In 2 minutes, maybe less, that door closes, and the chapter ends.

After I gave my farewell address yesterday, I had dinner last night with Karyn and with my three boys, Jonathan, Bryan, and Harrison, who had all come back to hear my farewell address yesterday. They had to fly in from New York, take a train from New Jersey, and come up from Tennessee. And because we are empty nesters, they are all out of the house now. It is getting increasingly rare that we are all together.

But one of the things we did last night is we sat around a table--it happened to be at a restaurant--and thought a little bit about past experiences. And you can imagine how their lives have changed over 12 years. We knew this night would come, this final minute or so would come, for a long time. I have known for 12 years, and that is the normal life cycle that one can expect if you are a citizen legislator, which I have said again and again that is what I tried to be in self- limiting my period here in the Senate.

But over that period, we have seen these three young boys--all very young--grow into three robust young men. I have seen a wife grow more beautiful by the day. I have seen a relationship of family, and a relationship between a husband and a wife, grow stronger over these 12 years through this opportunity the people of Tennessee have given me and Karyn and my three boys to serve them.

I have seen faith strengthened and challenged by the responsibility the people of Tennessee give us as elected officials when they select us to represent their hopes and their dreams.

I have also seen in this body, in watching my colleagues and being with my colleagues, a group of men and a group of women who are very good people, with good intentions, who are unselfish, who are people of faith, people of vision, people with real dreams, not perfect, as we all know--and we all have our foibles, and we all have our weaknesses-- but people who are good.

My dad always used to say: ``Good people beget good people.'' ``Good people beget good people.'' And I think that as we go through periods of change here, we can have that tradition of good people in this body begetting good people to continue.

I will close, again quoting from Dad's letter I mentioned yesterday that he wrote to future generations prior to his death.

I mentioned yesterday that that is a great thing for all of us to do later in life. What advice would you give people you will never see a generation or two generations later? I will close with his words from that same letter. This was after a list of things he wrote, giving his counsel and advice--very simple things, by the way, commonsense things. He said:

Finally, I believe it is so terribly important in life to

stay humble. Use your talents wisely and use other people's

talents to help other people.

``Help other people.''

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned sine die under the provisions of H. Con. Res 503.

Mr. President, this morning the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of the FDA Commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach. Senators can expect to have this vote around 10:30 to 10:45 this morning, following the 1 hour for debate. As I mentioned yesterday morning, this is a very important position, and to have this confirmation finally being accomplished will be a great achievement for this Congress.

Once cloture has been invoked, we will try to schedule that vote on confirmation early in the day. There are several critical items the Senate must act on before we adjourn sine die, and therefore Senators should adjust their travel plans to be here voting over the coming days.

I will be working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to wrap up our business for the Congress, and I appreciate Senators' willingness to work together on a number of legislative and executive matters.

Mr. President, I will be very brief. I want to speak on another matter. I know we want to get to the hour of pre-vote time here shortly.

Hopefully, tomorrow will officially end the 109th Congress. At the end of the day tomorrow, if we do our work today successfully, and tonight, the Senate will be able to adjourn. That will also mark, once we adjourn, this official change in leadership and change in the Senate agenda. I know many of my colleagues and many of my conservative allies view this change with a bit of trepidation, but change is good, change is constructive. It can be difficult, it can be painful, and it can be messy, but change forces us all to reexamine who we are, where we are, and where we want to go; what we know, what we believe.

I believe it is our responsibility to protect traditional, commonsense American values. I believe when we give the American people the freedom to invest their money as they choose, the economy is going to flourish. It is going to have more freedom to grow. At the end of the day, I believe good leaders don't talk about principles--don't talk about them--but good leaders lead on principle. They act, and they act with solutions, even if they don't know that the outcome is going to be 100-percent successful every time a bill is taken to the floor.

I think that is one of the things that at least I tried to do, is not say let's only take to the floor what will necessarily pass but what is the right thing to do, on principle; what is the right thing for us to be considering.

During my tenure in public office, it is what I tried to do, to lead on principle and act with solutions. It does come from that surgical approach of fixing things, of operating, of action.

For example . . . for 10 years, we grappled with the issue of Internet gambling. We watched the industry mushroom from a $30 million industry in 1996 to a $12 billion industry today. We watched an addiction undermine families, dash dreams, and fray the fabric of a moral society.

So we acted with a solution . . . by passing the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act to provide new enforcement tools to prosecute illegal Internet gambling.

Let me give you a few more recent examples of how we have led on principle, and acted with solutions.

We passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act . . . which creates a national sex offender registry, strengthens measures to prevent child pornography, and reinforces laws against child porn.

We passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which renewed the first federal law to strengthen prosecution efforts against human traffickers.

We passed legislation securing the right to prayer in U.S. military academies.

We passed legislation protecting the Mount Soledad Memorial Cross.

We passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which allows for the 10- fold increase of FCC fines for indecency violations.

We passed Cord blood legislation that harnesses the power of stem cells in cord blood to develop new cures for life-threatening diseases.

We passed the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, which prohibits the gestation of fetal tissue in order to use it for research.

We passed the Stem Cell Research Alternatives bill, which provides federal funding for a variety of stem cell research that do not involve destroying human embryos.

And perhaps most notably . . . we confirmed John Roberts Chief Justice of the Supreme Court . . . and Samuel Alito as an associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

We confirmed 18 Circuit court nominees and 87 District court judges, including six previously obstructed nominees. America needs judges who are fair, independent, unbiased, and committed to equal justice under the law . . . and we made sure that's what America got.

Over the past 12 years, what Republicans have done has changed our economy, our country, and our way of life for the better.

Our record of success, combined with the lessons of November's election, ensures that our party will rededicate itself to serving the interests of America, both here at home and around the world.

That vision--optimistic, forward-looking, hopeful--will be grounded in the fundamentals of commonsense conservative values best found on Main Street and in families with whom we have the privilege of interacting all across the country.

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

Mr. President, about 2 months ago, late Sunday afternoon, when no one was around, I came into this Chamber to carry out a time- honored tradition, nearly as old as the institution itself. I came over to this desk and I opened the drawer and the tradition of carving your initials or your name into the bottom of that drawer was carried out. As you open these drawers, as many of us do when we are sitting here listening and debating, you tend to look at the names that are there. I see Robert Taft at the bottom of this drawer, Hugh Scott, Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, and the list goes on. And with the quiet here, you begin to reflect a little bit. But then all of a sudden you start thinking, as you are carving your name into that drawer, that there aren't very many things that you leave that are permanent around here, but that is one.

It confronted me, as it hits me with such force today, that our time here, indeed, is temporary, and that we are here to occupy these seats at these desks just for a period of time. We can never forget that we don't own these seats. We don't own our presence in this U.S. Senate. It is with that recognition that I address my colleagues today.

I have reflected a lot over the last several weeks, and I think back to that nonpolitician who came to this city, this body, 12 years ago with a whole lot of hope for the people of Tennessee and a whole lot of hope for this country. I think back to the people who put their trust in that man's hands.

Indeed, it was 12 years ago that Karyn and I came to Washington. I came as a citizen legislator with absolutely no, no political experience. I was a doctor. I spent 20 years in the profession of healing. In my acceptance speech back 12 years ago, I pledged at that time to my fellow Tennesseans that Karyn and I would go to Washington, that we would serve for 12 years, for a limited amount of time, and that we would go back to Tennessee and live under the laws that we helped enact. And that is exactly what we will do. We are going to go back to Tennessee in a few weeks, and I am going to live in the very same house that I was born in 54 years ago.

I still remember coming to the Hill early on, and I know a number of new colleagues are coming to the Hill. I think back, and my former chief of staff, who was very green at the time--I just told you how green I was at the time--I remember standing right in front of the Capitol, and we had to stop somebody and ask: Where is this building called the Russell Building? And they told us. Luckily, I don't think they knew who I was at the time.

But I did come believing deeply in the promise that I had made. I believed in my heart that with determination--and I had seen it in surgery and in the operating room--one can make a difference in this world. Today, I look back and I see that I was only half right. One person can make a difference, and each of us do in our own ways. But to make a difference, we can't do it alone.

I certainly couldn't have done it without people who stood both behind me and with me over the last 12 years. I agree with all of my colleagues. I know they know Karyn. And, indeed, she has honored me by her unwavering love each step along the way. Her grace in carrying out her official responsibilities, her commitment to the development of character in our three boys, her moral support, her spiritual support for me and our family, she has been that guiding river that has kept us on course as we traveled two very different professions occupations: that of being a heart surgeon and that of serving as a U.S. Senator.

Our three boys most of you know as well. You have watched them grow up over the last 12 years: Bryan, Jonathan, and Harrison. Obviously, we are so proud of each of them. I will speak directly to them because they, as with anybody growing up, faced the huge challenges of growing up in public life, taking in stride the various swipes that the media takes from time to time, but doing so with real dignity and strength. The boys know that Tennessee is home. They have been able to take in the rich texture that is afforded all of us as we raise children here in this town. And they have grown from three young boys when we came here to three young men.

I want to thank staff members, and we never do that enough, those staff members who have been with me from the very beginning: Emily Reynolds, Ramona Lessen, Bart VerHulst, Cornell Wedge, Mark Winslow, and Carol Burroughs. I thank my series of chiefs of staff: Mark Tipps, Lee Rawls, Howard Liebengood, Eric Ueland, Andrea Becker, Bart, and Emily, and all those who have come in and out of these doors since that very first day 12 years ago when, yes, I, like somebody every cycle, was 100th in seniority. It is the staff that puts the needs of this country before their own needs. And with a lot of hard work and a lot of passion and a lot of hope, they have accomplished so much.

A few moments always stand out in my mind, and I will not recite all of them, but a few do stand out in my mind, victories like the $15 billion in funding for global HIV/AIDS, which I have seen firsthand the power in the hundreds of thousands and, indeed, I would say millions of lives that have been saved by American leadership there; the prescription drugs for seniors; confirming John Roberts and Sam Alito.

And through all of this time, we have borne witness to days that have literally changed the face of this Nation and the face of this Capitol, things like the Capitol shootings,

September 11, anthrax and ricin, and Katrina. But through all of that, we kept it the best way we could, with hard work and a lot of hope.

I thank my colleagues who placed their faith in me to serve as their leader. As I said four Decembers ago, when you elected me, it was and has been ever since, every day, a very humbling experience. On that day 4 years ago I quoted Proverbs: In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

And what fulfilling steps have been afforded me as leader. I cannot let today pass without expressing gratitude for the close friendships of people who are here and some people who have passed through this Chamber: Howard Baker, the great Republican leader from Tennessee whose shoes as majority leader I have done my best to fill. He has counseled me over the years both as a Senator and as leader. His sage advice I have relied upon many times in those capacities.

You have to be very careful going around a room, but behind me, people like Pete Domenici, who became a mentor to me on that very first day in 1995; and people like John Warner, whom we saw in action just a few minutes ago on the floor and, yes, on the Gates nomination; and former Senators, people like Don Nickles who so wisely set the stage for the Republican tax cuts of the last several years; my colleague and confidante, Mitch McConnell, whose wisdom and service

has been indispensable to leading the Republican majority, who ascends in party leadership, who will be sitting at this desk in a few weeks, a temperament and skill with which no one is better prepared; my Tennessee colleagues, Fred Thompson and now Lamar Alexander, two great statesmen with whom I have had the honor to work side by side as we have addressed the needs of our constituents.

I thank the two Democratic leaders, Tom Daschle and now Harry Reid. As Harry and I have said publicly many times, everybody sees the public contrast between one leader to the other, between Harry and me. But what people don't see are the daily conversations, the private conversations off the floor where views are mutually respected, where burdens are shared, and where family is discussed. Karyn and I leave this body with tremendous respect for Harry and for Landra, for their contributions to this country.

To all my colleagues who have reached across the aisle and across differences when you could, thank you.

Twelve years ago, it was people in Tennessee who took a big chance, who took a great chance. They took a chance on a doctor who was little known, who had never served in public office, obviously had never run for public office. They began by opening their minds and then opening their homes and then opening their lives and then opening their hearts. And I am eternally grateful to them for giving me that trust and taking that chance.

On this floor many times I have mentioned my parents and I mentioned my dad. Dad used to say: It is a powerful thing to know where you are going in life, but it is equally powerful to know where you have come from.

To the good people of Tennessee, I thank you for never letting me forget where I have come from. You never let me forget those promises made on the trail over a decade ago, the promises that have been the heart of everything that we have done. Yours are the voices that have called out to me from Mountain City in east Tennessee to Memphis in the west, the people out there who are working hard every day to raise a family, to grow a business, to run a farm, to get ahead. As long as I live, I will never forget those voices. Those voices are clear, those voices of common sense that called out and counseled me time and time again.

Two people who won't hear me thank them today are two who were at my swearing in but who have since passed on: my parents Dorothy and Tommy Frist. They have left a fascinating legacy that the five children--I am the last of those five--have been the beneficiaries of, a legacy of honesty, of civility, of fairness, of hard work, and of service. And we all--at least I try to--struggle to capture what they did in passing that legacy on to our children.

My own brothers and sisters, Mary, Bobby, Dottie, and Tommy, all in their own way, with their children and grandchildren, have been successful in living lives of service to others. Many friends are here today, including Jean Ann and Barry Banker and Denise and Steve Smith. It is that friendship, that team, that gives people, I believe, the strength and foundation to carry out that mission of serving this great country.

In the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time reflecting about the future of this institution. As I prepared to leave here and return to my home, many people have asked, don't you ever regret the promise that you made to serve just for 12 years, two terms? Did you regret it when you became chair of the RNC or majority leader? If you knew then what you know today, would you have made that promise 12 years ago? My answer is yes, because I believe today, as I believed then, in the ideal. It is, I guess, that ideal of a citizen legislator. It might seem bittersweet today, but it is right.

I hope that in some way, as I leave here, that my service--people may say it was effective or ineffective, and that is all very important--is an example of someone who had never, ever run for public office, never served before, and who had spent his lifetime--in fact, twice as much time as I spent in the Senate--pursuing another profession, coming here like so many people today and starting at 100th in seniority over in the basement of the Dirksen and rising to majority leader over that 12- year period; an example of a committed doctor who is able to find purpose and fulfillment in serving others, as all of us do as Senators, through elected office. I hope that will inspire others to seek office and to do public service. It is my hope that those who come to serve after me as a true citizen legislator will bring perspective and new ideas in a small way, a serendipitous way, or maybe a large way, and make this country a little better and contribute to this institution.

You have heard me talk about, and champion at times, term limits. Most people don't like them. They were popular for a period of time. I am a great believer in self-imposed term limits. Every morning you get up, you say I have 3 more years, 2 more years, or 1 year, or a half year, or 10 days, and you know that as every day goes by. If you don't have an understanding that there can be an end, you tend to forget that. Self-imposed term limits are the extreme exception here today, not the practice of this city. I think as a consequence we are moving toward a body that has too much of a 2-year vision, governing for that next election, rather than a body with a 20-year vision governing for the future.

As we consider the future of the institution, I urge that we ask ourselves what it is our forefathers envisioned. Is today's reality what they foresaw? I urge that we consider our work in this Chamber. What is it all about? Is it about keeping the majority? Is it about red States versus blue States? Is it about lobbing attacks across the aisle or is it about war rooms whose purpose is not to contrast ideas but to destroy or is it more? When the Constitutional Convention met in 1787, delegates considered how best to structure this legislative branch of new Government. They were determined not to repeat the mistakes made in the Articles of Confederation, which had a single, unicameral legislature. Speaking to the convention, Virginia's James Madison set forth the reasons to have a Senate. His words:

In order to judge the form to be given to this institution,

it will be proper to take a view of the ends to be served by

it.

These were, first, to protect the people against their rulers and, secondly, to protect the people against transient impressions into which they themselves might be led.

I think we need to remember this vision of the Senate that the Framers established--that the Senate is to protect people from their rulers and as a check on the House and on the passions of the electorate. Let us not allow these passions of the electorate to be reflected as destructive partisanship on this floor.

Taking the oath of office, which many of our good colleagues will be doing shortly, commits each Senator to respect and revere the Framers' dream. To my successor, Bob Corker, and to all the Senators who will follow me in service to this great Nation, I urge you to be bold, make the most of your time here, and look at problems with fresh eyes and the steely determination to give the American people a reason to believe in you and to hope for a better tomorrow.

To serve in this grand institution has been a labor of love. To lead here is a challenging responsibility that is set out before me and each of us. It has been a profound honor to serve.

I will close with just one story. It happens in southern Sudan. As many of you have heard me say, because it is such an important part of my life, I go to Sudan just about every year--a thousand miles south of Khartoum and 500 miles west of the Nile River. I started going there in the mid to late nineties. I had been there operating back in the bush, and I was ready to come home. Actually, it was in January. The State of the Union was a few days off. We finished operating in a hut. I operated by flashlight late at night. Somebody in a little hut said, ``I want to see the American doctor.'' Well, I didn't want to go. I wanted to get back home. I wanted to get on the plane and come back home, but I went to see him. I was tired. I walked over and pulled the curtain aside--the rug that was used as a curtain--and in the back there was somebody smiling. You could see the bandages on his hands and legs, and I went over; and through a translator I said, ``I am the American doctor.'' He said, ``Thank you to the American doctor.'' As a physician, I am accustomed to that because when you

operate on somebody, they say thank you. So I said, ``you're welcome,'' and I got ready to leave. He was frustrated and he said, ``Come back.'' He said. ``Thank you for being the American doctor.'' I still didn't quite get it. He picked up his arm and said, ``I lost my arm fighting in this civil war. I lost my leg 8 days ago. It was about 2 years ago that I lost my wife and my 2 children. Thank you for being the American doctor.''

And then I started to get it. He was saying thank you for being the American doctor. Then he said, basically, that: It is you who are a representative of America, and for democracy and liberty and freedom I sacrificed my wife and my children and my arm and my body. Thank you for what you represent.

Then all of a sudden, it began to hit me. To me, that image cuts through just about everything that we do. It is about preserving as best we can the great hope that we represent here in America, which is embodied in this institution, the freedom, the responsibility, the opportunity, the compassion, and the basic decency that is at the heart of who we are as Americans. Beyond Democrat or Republican--which came out of the campaign--now is the time to again remind ourselves and state again and again that beyond being Democrats and Republicans, we are Americans. Together, we are one people. It is our responsibility to uphold the dream and protect that hope for every American and indeed the people around the world who seek that freedom.

I opened by saying that our time here is temporary; we are just passing through. Now is the time to close. Your patience has been generous. As I have spent a lifetime learning, to everything there is a season. We say that and hear it and tend to repeat it when there are changes. But to everything there is a season, and my season here draws to a close. Tomorrow is the time for birth and rebirth. Tomorrow is a day and a time for new rhythms.

My dad did a great thing that I shared with some of you. Each of us should do this for our children or for the people we care about. He knew he was going to die in the next couple of years. We asked him to write down his thoughts, advice, and counsel for the next generation-- not just his kids and theirs, but for the great-great-grandkids that he would never see, a simple 4 to 5 pages. He ended that letter to his great-grandchildren with the following words:

The world is always changing, and that's a good thing. It's

how you carry yourself in the world that doesn't change--

morality, integrity, warmth, and kindness are the same things

in 1910, when I was born, or in 2010, or later, when you will

be reading this. And that's a good thing, too. Love,

Granddaddy.

So under the dome, it is time for fresh faces and fresh resolve. Change is good. Change is constructive. The Senate changes, the people who serve here change; but what doesn't change is that every one of us who serves believes deeply in the genius of the American democracy.

It is with the deepest appreciation that Karyn and I thank you all for 12 wonderful years. There are no words to describe the honor it has been.

I yield the floor.

(Applause, Senators rising.)

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, in a couple of minutes we are going to turn to a very important vote, a vote that to me is significant because it touches every single American in some shape or form. Much has been said over the course of today about the scope of the FDA, the importance of having an FDA Commissioner, a permanent FDA Commissioner, and we will realize that shortly.

Earlier this year we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration, which is an administration that I have used professionally in my previous profession in everything from the thousands of prescriptions I have written, to investigational drugs, to left ventricular devices, to lasers and artificial hearts. I have seen first hand how important it is to have an appropriate regulatory agency there. The Food and Drug Administration, as we all know, as we have said this afternoon, is America's first scientific regulation body. While the agency has adapted and changed with the times, it has remained true to its purpose of protecting interests of everyone who is listening to me, the American consumer.

In a few minutes we will vote on the nomination of a very good friend, Dr. Eschenbach, to the position of Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

I have known Dr. Eschenbach, again professionally, and I have had mutual patients with him. And he has assisted in many ways as we have looked at appropriate therapy for individuals from across the country. He is currently serving as Acting Commissioner. I have interacted with him in that regard. He has demonstrated a capacity to lead and to administer in an exceptional way the Food and Drug Administration with sensitive issues on a daily basis. It is important that we have a permanent person in that position, and he is the ideal person, the ideal candidate to do just that.

In both his professional and personal life, Dr. Eschenbach has experience: as a cancer survivor, as Director of the National Cancer Institute, literally a nationally renowned urologic surgeon and oncologist, which all attest to the superlative qualifications to handle that challenging job, as we all know, as FDA Commissioner.

I hope colleagues will join me in supporting Dr. Eschenbach's nomination.

Mr. President, after 33 years of service to the U.S. Senate, Linda Sebold has decided to retire. Linda began her Senate career with the Office of the Secretary of the Senate back in August of 1973, and until this day Linda remains totally dedicated to the Senate. After 5 years as an assistant in the Disbursing Office, Linda became the Committee Scheduling Coordinator for the Daily Digest. In time, through dedication and hard work, Linda was named the Assistant Editor of the Digest, and in the spring of 1999, Linda was appointed Editor of the Digest.

Throughout Linda's years of service, the combination of her experience and work ethic allowed her to produce a top flight Daily Digest. The Digest is one those valuable Senate resources thoroughly examined the first thing each morning by many Senate and House staffers. Some people with Linda's years of experience might have become complacent, but throughout her service, Linda remained vigilant, working closely with Senate committee staff, the Government Printing

Office, the Senate Sergeant at Arms technical development staff, the Secretary's information technology staff, and her counterparts in the House of Representatives in search of possible improvements for the Digest.

Over the years, Linda's achievements were not limited to the Daily Digest. Linda's recommendations led to numerous improvements being implemented to the Senate-wide Legislative Information System. Linda has contributed significantly to the Senate's continuity of operations planning. Linda has been a true leader among the Secretary's legislative staff. Linda has been the ultimate teacher and mentor for all those fortunate enough to have worked with her. During her time with the Senate, one of Linda's most important roles has been the time she has taken to counsel and encourage young people, especially ``young moms,'' with respect to the personal demands associated with working Senate hours.

As our Senate family says goodbye to Linda and thanks her for always having the best interest of the Senate at heart over the past 33 years, it is also fitting that we acknowledge her greatest accomplishment, her beautiful family. It is our wish that Linda, her loving husband Jerry, her son Brian and daughter Karen, enjoy a future filled with health, happiness, and many treasured memories. We thank Linda's family for their many sacrifices during Linda's career and sincerely thank them for sharing Linda with the Senate.

Thank you, Linda.

I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of S. 4014 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements related to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, for 12 years, I have served the people of Tennessee as a U.S. Senator. Before I joined this body, I spent 20 years practicing medicine--as a transplant surgeon.

But I spent even more time--nearly 30 years--getting the education necessary for me to pursue a career at the cutting edge of transplant surgery.

Without that education, I couldn't have pursued my dream of helping people.

The fact is, education is an essential cornerstone in our society. Not just in the United State,s but around the world--across the global society.

Not only does a sound education increase the global competitiveness of America's workforce, but it also enables each and every worker to pursue the American dream, in his or her own way.

Here in America, we have a rich history of working hard. We set goals. We visualize dreams. And then we doggedly pursue them, with stubborn perseverance.

But as hard as we work, unless we possess the tools and the knowledge and the ``know how,'' we are not optimizing our resources. That means it is our best interest to pursue the best education possible. It is in our best interest to strengthen our education system so we can better equip future generations.

That is why I have supported a number of measures that enhance America's education system.

Take the President's No Child Left Behind Act, which I proudly cosponsored. It set high standards for schools around the country. It is a comprehensive overhaul of the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act based on 4 pillars: accountability and testing, flexibility and local control, funding for what works, and expanded parental options.

We laid the groundwork for No Child Left Behind with ED-Flex, to give States more flexibility in how they use Federal education dollars.

More recently, we passed the first-ever comprehensive reform and improvement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

We crafted this strongly bipartisan legislation with input from parents, educators, and disability groups--with the primary goal of ensuring disabled students are achieving.

Streamlining regulations, simplifying and improving the integrity of the conflict resolution process, reducing the paperwork burden for special education teachers, improving existing discipline provisions while still ensuring disabled children's rights are protected--with every provision, we helped principals, teachers, and parents better address the needs of disabled students.

Enhancing and strengthening our Nation's education system must occur at every level--primary, secondary, and beyond, in colleges and universities.

My SMART grant legislation took education reform to the university level, and without a doubt, among the education improvements I have supported over the years, SMART grants hold pride of place in my heart.

SMART grants are a new student aid initiative that provide incentives for promoting math and science education and consequently represent a dramatic step toward ensuring America's future global economic competitiveness.

Let me put it in perspective: China and India generate scientists and engineers at a furious pace while America lags dangerously behind.

We haven't reached the crisis point yet. We still have the best research universities in the world. We take home the lion's share of Nobel prizes in the sciences. We lead the planet in most high-tech fields. And we produce more top scientists and engineers per capita than any country with an economy even close to our size.

But for every one engineer we graduate in America, China graduates eight and India graduates four.

SMART grants help America maintain our competitive edge by providing aid to Pell grant-eligible students who maintain a 3.0 GPA and major in math, science, engineering, technology, or foreign languages critical to national security during their third and fourth years of college.

These funds help incentivize more students to major in these time- intensive studies and they help America produce the quality workforce necessary to compete in today's global economy.

But there is still more Congress can do to strengthen our education system and further enhance our America's competitiveness.

Right now, we stand at a crossroads. Unless we continue moving to improve our education system at all leve1s, we could very well face economic stagnation and a loss of global scientific leadership.

We can't afford to let that happen.

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