Cord Byrd: “as the 106th Congress winds to a close, I want to take just a moment, as it were, to say farewell and to pay tribute to…”

“as the 106th Congress winds to a close, I want to take just a moment, as it were, to say farewell and to pay tribute to my friend and colleague, Senator Frank Lautenberg, who, after serving three terms, will be retiring from the United States Senate. He has dutifully served the people of New Jersey, and served them well, for 18 years, and he has often been outspoken about the value of government and its ability to improve people's lives. This belief stems from personal experience. As the son of immigrants who fled poverty and religious persecution, he raised himself from poverty to become a world leader in computer services. Frank did well. He well understood the words of Thomas H. Huxley, who said, "The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher." Senator Frank Lautenberg has never rested, and I am sure that, for him, retirement from the Senate simply means that he is moving on to the next rung on his life's ladder.”