Political Quotes

“I rise today, on this side of the aisle, to thank my friend Senator Cochran. Yesterday, I made a longer speech in the Congressional Record, but I didn't want this moment to go by without tributes from both sides of the aisle while you are personally present on the floor. My relationship with Senator Cochran was fortuitous. There used to be two giants in the Senate--Ted Stevens and Danny Inouye--and forever and ever they were the two, a Democrat and Republican--who were in charge of the Department of Defense Appropriations bill, and we bowed to their knowledge and wisdom. Then the day came when they were both gone, and the new people stepping in were Thad Cochran and Dick Durbin. I felt totally undeserving to be given that responsibility, and certainly could never follow the act of Danny Inouye, as great as he was in serving our country, both in the military and the U.S. Senate, and Thad had the responsibility of following Ted Stevens as the Defense Committee chair. While we both knew we were being held to high standards as people compared us, as they inevitably would, the thing we decided to do from the beginning was to do it together--to learn on the job and to work together. It really hearkens back to a Senate that I remember--and I am sure Senator Shelby and others remember--when we first got here, when the Appropriations Committee assignments were really bipartisan assignments, start to finish.…”