Pete Sessions: “I join with Senator Levin in his high compliments of Senators Cleland and Carnahan. Both have served this committee…”

“I join with Senator Levin in his high compliments of Senators Cleland and Carnahan. Both have served this committee exceedingly well. Bob Smith is a true American patriot. He loves his country. He served in the Navy. He was a history teacher. He came down here with a ``Mr. Smith Comes to Washington'' view of the highest possible values he could bring to bear. He loved the Defense Department. He gave it extraordinary interest. He was a top leader in national missile defense and high technology defense. He was a leader on the Strategic Subcommittee and chaired it for a number of years. He was a champion for lost POWs. No Senator in this body spent more time and effort fighting to make sure every single prisoner of war of the United States was recovered or we knew about. He led on the Mike Speicher case, the missing pilot in Iraq. Tim Hutchinson came in with me. I love Tim and watched him lead in this body year after year. He was a tremendous contributor to the Armed Services Committee. He chaired the Personnel Subcommittee. In that subcommittee, he fought hard to improve the pay, benefits, and living conditions of our men and women in uniform. He also fought successfully to break down the barriers where some of our colleges would not let military recruiters come on campus to recruit. He led a tough battle to change some of those laws.”