On the recordNovember 17, 2010
I rise today to pay tribute to the life of a friend and former colleague, former Senator Ted Stevens, who passed away this August in a plane crash. I know that I speak for all of my colleagues when I say how difficult it was to receive news of Ted's passing this summer, and I would like to take this moment to convey my heartfelt condolences to everyone who knew, worked with, and enjoyed Ted during his life. I believe that Ted will long be remembered as a man of the Senate. First appointed to his seat more than four decades ago, Ted Stevens became the longest-serving Republican in the history of this body in 2007. Throughout his tenure in Washington, Ted served in a number of key leadership positions, including as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and as President pro tempore. Over the years, I had the pleasure of being able to collaborate with Ted on a number of critically important issues, including, perhaps most recently, legislation that I introduced during the 110th Congress to provide paid leave to workers under the auspices of the Family and Medical Leave Act. And while Ted and I did not substantively agree on much, he didn't shy away from reaching out across the partisan divide to get things done.
