Roy Blunt: “I wish to talk about the disaster supplemental today, but before I do that, I would like to spend a minute talking about…”

“I wish to talk about the disaster supplemental today, but before I do that, I would like to spend a minute talking about the Senator from Hawaii, Mr. Inouye. We were at the service this morning in the Rotunda of the Capitol, where only 31 Americans in the history of the country have been honored by that opportunity for Americans to think about them as they lie in the center of the Capitol on the catafalque that was used by Abraham Lincoln and others. I was able to place the wreath in the Capitol when Rosa Parks was in that same place. I want to say how honored I was to get to serve in the Senate with Mr. Inouye. He not only was a hero in so many ways but I think connected all of us to the ``greatest generation,'' as Tom Brokaw titled that generation, and there was no better example of that quiet, purposeful, heroic dedication to service than the Senator from Hawaii, the President pro tem, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, but most of all just a great American. Last year when school was out, my youngest son Charlie was here for lunch. In the Senate Dining Room, he saw Mr. Inouye, and he had seen Ken Burns' World War II documentary in which the Senator was being recognized. He said: ``I saw him in the documentary on World War II.'' I asked Senator Inouye to come over to speak to Charlie and his friends, and he did. They were so thrilled to meet him.…”