On the recordNovember 30, 2010
I rise this afternoon to pay tribute to my dear friend and colleague and, in a very real sense, mentor. I can testify from the experience of the last 2 years to his remarkable contributions to this country. I don't believe any other Senator could have navigated the treacherous waters of the Dodd-Frank bill. It was like watching a great conductor conduct a complicated piece of music: knowing when to pause and let tempers cool, knowing when to pick up the tempo, knowing when to come to the final conclusion. It was a virtuosos performance, in keeping with a career of contributing to Connecticut and to this country. The most remarkable tribute I have ever heard about this wonderful man was in a very unusual place by a person who honestly probably doesn't know who he is. It was May 21, 2010. I was visiting a wounded soldier at Walter Reed Army Hospital, a member of the Second Battalion, 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. He had been wounded around Kandahar by an IED. Fortunately, he was on the road to recovery.
