Congratulating Senator Peters

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I congratulate the junior Senator from Michigan for his opening speech in the Senate. My State of Illinois is separated from his State of Michigan by another State and a Great Lake, but we have many things in common.

People of Chicago and Illinois, many of them, spend a lot of money in the State of Michigan and particularly in western Michigan. We love the Senator's State. It is a beautiful State. Many of us vacation there and get to know the people.

We have so much in common as midwesterners, looking at the world from our vantage point, smack dab in the middle of this country, and bringing to the conversation in the Senate many of the values that have guided our lives and inspired our families. I listened carefully and thought it is amazing that we have such parallel backgrounds--a father who can trace his family roots back to the Revolutionary War and, in both cases, mothers who were immigrants to this country. So being a first-generation American, I am sure the Senator feels as I do, a special honor, standing on the floor of the Senate, representing a State as great as Michigan--or Illinois.

I wish to say my colleague's background in the House of Representatives prepared him well for this challenge. Although he follows one of the greats in the history of the Senate, Carl Levin, he brings to this job an extraordinary talent and a great partnership with Senator Stabenow. Already, the two of them have been in contact with me about Michigan's needs as they relate to our Department of Defense--and it is a significant investment which Michigan has made over the years in keeping America strong, one we want to continue for many generations to come.

I am pleased Senator Peter's family was here to be part of this official opening of his service in the Senate, and I certainly look forward to working with him for many years to come.

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