Frank Lautenberg: “I thank the leadership for according me an opportunity to present my new colleague. All of us are going to be missing…”

“I thank the leadership for according me an opportunity to present my new colleague. All of us are going to be missing Jon Corzine, a dear friend and former colleague who served this body very well but responded to the call of duty when things in New Jersey needed a leading hand. Jon Corzine responded and took up the assignment. In Senator Corzine's place, we are fortunate to be able to have a candidate of the skill and knowledge that Senator Robert Menendez has. Bob Menendez is a typical American story. He was born in America of parents who had immigrated from Cuba. He has worked his way through the system very well. As a very young man--high school age--he challenged the mayor and the leadership of the community in which he lived in New Jersey and fought his way to making certain they were going to be cleaning up some of their bad habits in Union City, such that he had to at times wear a bulletproof vest when he was 17 years old. He, thusly, had a place in the political mainstream as a very young man. He became mayor of Union City, NJ, and then served in our general assembly from 1987 until 1991 and in the New Jersey Senate--he has been through all of the steps to leadership--from 1991 to 1993. He then came to the U.S. Congress and was soon appointed--he worked hard to get it. I should strike the word ``appointed'' and say he worked his way so that he became the third most powerful member on the Democratic side in the House of Representatives.…”