Thad Cochran: “I am deeply grateful to the distinguished Senator from West Virginia for his kind remarks and his cooperation and…”

“I am deeply grateful to the distinguished Senator from West Virginia for his kind remarks and his cooperation and presentation of this bill and support of the first supplemental appropriations bill, as well as providing funding to try to help the disaster victims in my State and the other coastal States that were affected by this terrible tragedy. I have admired my friend from West Virginia from the moment I came to the Senate. I respect his dedication to the Senate and his conscientious efforts to effectively represent the State of West Virginia in the U.S. Senate. I have learned a lot from him, and I continue to do so as time goes on. One of the things that has not been as widely noted, I think, as should have been is the leadership provided in the gulf coast areas by the local elected leaders. The Governor of my State, Haley Barbour, has shown an enormous amount of skill, compassion, and determination to use all of the available resources of our State Government to aid the disaster victims, to get them to safety, to provide for them, to help in the debris removal, getting businesses started again and the schools going. It has been a challenge of enormous proportions.…”