USA Patriot and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005--Conference Report--Continued
USA PATRIOT AND TERRORISM PREVENTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005--CONFERENCE REPORT--Continued
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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise to say a word or two about our good friend Senator Corzine, who will be leaving the Senate to assume the governorship of New Jersey.
What I would like to do--because I have heard a lot about Senator Corzine and his background in Illinois today--is to talk about when I saw him in action for the first time. It was when the Senate was working on the post 9/11 airline relief legislation. A lot of us were very troubled about how that ought to be done. We were sympathetic to the needs of the airlines after 9/11 but concerned about the very large sums of money that were going to be directed to one sector of our economy when many of our important economic sectors were hurt after 9/11; in that period when our country suffered tragically in New York but where there were economic ramifications across the country.
That legislation would not have passed if Senator Corzine, along with help from our former colleague, Senator Fitzgerald, had not stepped in and figured out how to deal with the financing in a responsible way that protected taxpayers while providing some help to the airlines. Senator Corzine took out a sharp pencil, using the expertise he had acquired in his years at Goldman Sachs and throughout his training in finance, and figured out how to make sure there was not a bailout in effect for just one sector that would have taxpayers holding the bag and was sensitive to the needs of all concerned.
I was struck, as I watched him deal with that airline legislation, how in this individual a combination of compassion, fairness, and intelligence worked in a very quiet and dignified way to bring together different parties, different Senators who had widely diverse views, and tackled an issue of great importance.
I think that is exactly what he is going to do when he assumes the Governorship of New Jersey. He is going to bring exactly that combination of fairness, compassion, and brains, always done in a kind of low-key, understated way. I believe the people of New Jersey will benefit as they have in his service here in the U.S. Senate.
We hope Governor CORZINE will come to Oregon because he has expressed an interest in looking at some of our innovative approaches, particularly in the area of health care and the environment. We wish him well and know he is going to have a very distinguished career as the new Governor of New Jersey.
I yield the floor.
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