Retiring from the Senate
RETIRING FROM THE SENATE -- (Senate - September 27, 2006)
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise to tell the Senator from Vermont that I am going to miss him in the Senate and still consider him a friend. I hope to have a long relationship with him, even in his retirement. I am that Senator that Jim Jeffords, the Senator from Vermont, referred to as the one remaining Republican of the class of 1974. There were 17 of us. I think there were about 70 Democrats. It was a bad year for Republicans. You couldn't even put the word Republican on your literature. It was the year Nixon resigned.
There were only 140 of us in the House of Representatives at that time. I don't know whether Senator Jeffords felt this way, but I felt this way, that it was probably the end of the Republican Party. Well, I was wrong. He and I have been reelected to serve together, to serve our respective constituents.
I remember Senator Jeffords as an outstanding member of the Agriculture Committee in the House of Representatives the 6 years I served on that committee. Then there was a period of time where I was a Member of the Senate and he still stayed in the House of Representatives. Our friendship still held. But working together--you know how it is in Congress, the House and Senate; there is a Grand Canyon between us sometimes, and we don't communicate as much as we ought to. Consequently, it was like getting reacquainted with Senator Jeffords again when he came to the Senate. I was glad then and I am very glad now that he continued his service.
I think he is an outstanding example of probably what is an unacknowledged principle of political science--at least it is a feeling I have about the people of our country--that if you serve honorably where you are at a certain time and do the best job possible, you are going to have opportunities to enhance your position within public service. So as a State senator, then as an attorney general, then as a Congressman, and then as a Senator for the people of Vermont, I believe he got to be a Senator because people in Vermont recognized him, as a State senator, as a Congressman, and as an attorney general, as a person who was not there because of political ambition, wanting to rise to the top, but a person, in each stage of his public service life, who did what that job required and did it well. People recognized that and in the end of the process, he came to the Senate.
In every relationship I have had with Senator Jeffords, whether he was Republican or an Independent, it has always been one that has been friendly and honorable and honest, and, most importantly, to describe him as a humanitarian as he approached public policy.
It seemed to me that as a Member of the Senate, whether as an Independent or as a Republican, Senator Jeffords brought forth what it takes to get things done in the Senate, and that is moderation. It doesn't matter whether it is a bill that is representing the philosophy of the extreme left or a bill that represents the philosophy of the extreme right, nothing such as that is going to get through the Senate. Eventually you have to have people come together seeking a middle ground, a bipartisan approach to get things done. It seems to me, in every respect, that is what Senator Jeffords did--he sought moderation because that is how you get solutions and that is the only way the Senate produces.
I compliment him on his dedicated public service. I congratulate him on his long service to the people of the United States and the people of Vermont. I will miss working with him. I will miss him, but I hope we have opportunities to have great relationships for the rest of our lives.
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