On the recordOctober 24, 2017
I rise today to remember and celebrate the life of my friend, Senator Paul Wellstone. Paul led a lot of fights in the Senate on behalf of working families and those without a voice. He didn't back down even when a fight seemed unwinnable. He told voters exactly what he believed even when it wasn't popular. It was by taking such positions that Minnesotans, whether they agreed with him or not, always knew where he stood. In the final days of the 2002 campaign, he told Minnesotans: I don't represent the big oil companies, I don't represent the big pharmaceutical companies . . . they already have great representation in Washington. It's the rest of the people that need it. I represent the people of Minnesota. But Paul also knew full well that standing up to powerful interests could have steep political costs. His career in the Senate was bookended by votes on going to war in Iraq. Both of his votes were unpopular, but Paul stood on principle, not on politics. His maiden speech, the first speech he gave as a Senator, was in opposition to the first Gulf war, and one of the last Senate votes he cast was against the second war in Iraq. He was facing a tough reelection challenge at the time of his vote, and he knew it might cost him his seat, and he told friends so. But to have voted otherwise, he said, would have violated the principles that guided his career.…
