Mark Pryor: “let me mention a very abbreviated list of Blanche Lincoln's accomplishments: First woman to chair the Senate Agriculture…”

“let me mention a very abbreviated list of Blanche Lincoln's accomplishments: First woman to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee; first woman to chair the Finance Subcommittee on Social Security Pensions and Family Policy--in fact, the first woman to ever chair a Finance subcommittee--chair of the rural outreach for the Senate Democratic caucus; chair of the Senate hunger caucus; cofounder and cochair of the Third Way; creator of the Delta Regional Authority; author of the 2010 child nutrition bill; a key writer of the 2008 farm bill; author of the refundable child tax credit. Mr. President, I could go on and on, but most of her accomplishments and contributions cannot be measured. As she worked on the Agriculture Committee, the Finance Committee, the Aging Committee, and the Energy Committee, on a countless number of occasions, on amendments and bills, she became the Senator who was the key to passage or defeat. A couple of years ago, I watched a bill that was making its way through the Senate Finance Committee, and there were a lot of people outside of this Chamber who had a vital interest in the outcome of that legislation. Everywhere I would go I would be stopped and asked: Is this bill going to pass? Will it come out of the committee? Will it get through the floor? What I told the folks who asked that back then turned out to be true: As Blanche goes, so goes the Finance Committee, because she was that way on all of her committees.…”