Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise with my colleague Senator Smith, who will be speaking shortly, to recognize the life of Senator David Durenberger, who passed away on January 31, 2023, leaving behind his loving wife Susan, to whom he was married over 27 years, as well as his four sons, two stepchildren, and 14 grandchildren. Last week, I had the honor of attending Dave's funeral at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN. Attendees included Governors of both parties. Governor Pawlenty was there, Governor Walz and Governor Dayton. It was a fitting venue because in so many ways, Dave was St. John's College. He was raised there by his parents, George and Isabelle, both of whom were faculty members. And as a student at St. John's Prep and St. John's University, he grew up fully immersed in the Benedictine values of faith, listening, respect, stewardship, and justice. Those values shaped what he did. Shortly after I won my first Senate race, Dave invited me to breakfast, and there is actually a photo of us on the wall when we had that breakfast in that restaurant. He had a few lessons he wanted to share with me. He didn't sugarcoat anything. He said that Washington can ``eat you up'' and that, too often, the value of stewardship is missing. He told me to join the prayer breakfast, because he said it was one place where people could talk to each other, nothing would leak, and you could build trust and take a moment and put things in perspective.…”