Harry Reid: “while I disagree with the distinguished senior Senator from Hawaii and the senior Senator from Alaska on this issue, I…”

“while I disagree with the distinguished senior Senator from Hawaii and the senior Senator from Alaska on this issue, I am forever amazed at the great relationship of the senior Senator from Alaska and the senior Senator from Hawaii. We develop friendships in the Senate, and I have no question that my friendship with Senator Inouye is one that will last me a lifetime. He is such a wonderful man. And I also have such warmth and feelings for the senior Senator from Alaska. But with the example that is set by the Senator from Alaska and the Senator from Hawaii, in friendship and in working together on issues, I am, each year, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, stunned by the ability of these two gentlemen to move through the Defense appropriations bill the way they do. This should take weeks of our debate time in the committee and on the Senate floor, but as a result of their working relationship, it is always held to just a short period of time. So when the history books are written about the Senate, these two men, who now stand before me and with me in the Senate--Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye--will be known for many things, for doing so many good things for our country and for their respective States, but the thing I am going to remember is the example of friendship that I see between the Senator from Alaska and the Senator from Hawaii.”