Frank Lautenberg: “At the same time, I wish to pay tribute to a dear friend who passed away yesterday, Senator forever, Pat Moynihan. I…”

“At the same time, I wish to pay tribute to a dear friend who passed away yesterday, Senator forever, Pat Moynihan. I came to the Senate 6 years after he arrived here, and we served together for 18 years. We left together at the same time in 2001. I personally will miss him and think fondly of the moments we shared together, but, at the same time, say thank goodness--thank goodness-- that this place and this country had Senator Pat Moynihan. He was a great man, with a brilliant mind, an incredible wealth of knowledge. He will have left a mark forever on our Government and on our society, even at a time when our culture has exhibited an ephemeral quality. We can think of the moments we shared with him, all of us who had the good fortune to serve with him. Because New York and New Jersey are neighboring States and have many similar concerns, he and I worked closely on many issues. We served together on the Environment and Public Works Committee. He will be rightfully remembered as one of the giants who have served in this Senate. He will be able to be compared to the greats at the founding of this country because his half century of contributions to this body and to New York and to the region and to the Nation and to the world are immeasurable.”