On the recordDecember 18, 2012
I understand we are in a period of morning business. I wish to offer a few reflections and reminiscence about our dearly departed Senator Dan Inouye. Yesterday afternoon I came into the Chamber expecting to vote on a matter or two. I was stunned and devastated to hear the news, as were the rest of my colleagues, that we had lost Senator Inouye. When I think of what a Senator is and should be, I think of Dan Inouye. When I came to the Senate, 10 years ago now, I would say that there were three undisputed giants in this hall. There may have been more, but there were three undisputed giants I think everybody recognized as giants in the Senate. One would be Ted Stevens, one would be Ted Kennedy, and the other would be Dan Inouye. There is something about those three men, those three Senators, that put them in a class by themselves. Some of it is the force of their personalities, some of it is their legislative accomplishments, some of it is just their ability to get it done; when the chips are down to have the integrity, to understand the vital role that the Senate plays in our Federal system. I think Dan Inouye had all of those traits and he also had character. Character is something that is hard to describe, it is hard to quantify, hard to define sometimes, but there is no doubt Senator Inouye had character. Yesterday morning I got off the plane. Like many of us I raced into the office. I noticed I had a big bundle of papers waiting for me to look at.…
