Tom Harkin: “In these closing weeks of the 111th Congress, the Senate will be saying goodbye to a number of retiring colleagues. But…”

“In these closing weeks of the 111th Congress, the Senate will be saying goodbye to a number of retiring colleagues. But, for my part, I will miss them all, but I have to be honest, the most poignant farewell will be to my dear friend, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. Chris and I have much in common. We are both proud of our Irish roots. We were both elected to the House of Representatives at the same time, in the famous post-Watergate election of 1974. Chris moved over here to the Senate in 1980, and I followed 4 years later. We both ran for President--with similarly unambiguous results. Over the years, we have collaborated on many legislative initiatives, including, most recently, the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act--the health reform bill. As we all know, Chris Dodd is almost literally a son of the Senate. With good reason, he is enormously proud of his father, Thomas J. Dodd, who was a lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials and served two terms in the Senate, from 1959 to 1971. Chris worked as a Senate page at age 16, and was elected to the Senate at age 36. For three decades, Chris has embodied everything that is good about this body: a passion for public service, a sincere desire to reach out across the aisle, a great talent for forging coalitions and bringing people together, and a willingness to work extraordinarily long hours in order to accomplish big and important things.”