Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. KING. I wanted to speak very briefly, because as Senator Manchin pointed out, I am the most junior person in the place.

I want to say a couple of things about Carl Levin. As has been said here repeatedly, Carl is a man of immense intellect and character, and I wanted to explain how that came to be. I thought that would be important to lay on the Record.

It came to be because Carl Levin and his brother spent their boyhood summers in the State of Maine. That imparts character to anyone who is lucky enough to have that experience.

Secondly, I want to mention--because it has been mentioned several times--about the travel. I had the great good fortune to travel after having been here about 6 months. Carl and I--as members of the Armed Services Committee--went to Turkey and Jordan to try to get some insight into the situation in Syria. My only advice to anyone in this body is if you are ever invited to travel with Carl Levin, spend the prior 2 or 3 months in the gym. I have never been so exhausted in my life, and we would be at 10 p.m., after all-day meetings and touring of refugee sites, and Carl would say: Can't we have another meeting? Isn't there someone else we can talk to? His absolute passion for information and data upon which to make decisions is I think exemplary.

The final thing I want to note is--and it has been talked about how he is a Senator's Senator, which is certainly true. My observation and in fact my experience this year in the markup of the National Defense Authorization Act is the highlight of my experience in this body. The reason it is, is cause it worked like it is supposed to work. We had 2/2 days of markup. They were about 10-hour days, as I recall. There were over 200 amendments. Through Carl's leadership, most of those amendments were compromised and worked out

between the parties and between the individuals who were moving the amendments, but we ended up with about 20 we couldn't resolve in that way. I was so struck by this. I went back and looked at the record of that markup. Of the 20 amendments that were voted on in the committee, not a single one of those amendments was decided on a party-line vote. There were votes of 13 to 12 or 16 to 4 or whatever the vote was but not a single party-line vote. I think that in itself is an extraordinary achievement in a body that is often driven by partisan divisions. I think it is attributable in large measure to Carl Levin's leadership.

Everybody had their say. Everybody had their opportunity to put their thoughts forward. Everybody had an opportunity to get a vote if they felt that was necessary. Of course, in the end, the bill came out of the committee--I think it was 25 to 1--and that is what legislating is supposed to be all about. That is a lesson for us because people felt they got their amendments, they got their discussion, they got their ideas out. Even if they weren't successful, at the end, they voted for the bill because they were invested in the process. That is what I learned from this man who I think has been an inspiration for those of us who are coming along behind. Again, I am so honored. One of the great joys of my life has been to serve with you for 2 years. One of the great sadnesses of my life is it is only 2 years, but I deeply appreciate what you have done for this body and for the United States of America.

Mr. LEVIN. Thank you.

Mr. KING. Bless you.

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