Senate Proceeding on Jan 15th, 2009 :: 0:00:40 to 0:40:45
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Speech By: Rear Adm. Barry Black

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: light out of darkness bring order and illumination to our world. as our lawmakers labor illuminate the darkness of pessimism and doubt as you give them the wisdom to distinguish

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: between truth and false good and evil, better and best. lord, renew their spirits and lift their vision so that they can see now hidden from them.

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: keep them second best and let their ordered lives questions the beauty of your peace. we pray in the name of him who is the light of the world.

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegience to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with libty and

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: justice for all. the presiding officer: the

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Harry Reid: clerk will read a communic to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., thursday, january 15, 2009. under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mark pryor, a senator om the state of arkansas, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd,

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Speech By: Harry Reid

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Harry Reid: president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: senator biden is here to give the united states senate. over the many decades he served in the senate, he has given many, many speeches in the senate we all look forward to his remarks, recognizing that the loss of the senate is

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Harry Reid: significant, however, being vice president, he will still be president of the senate. and ilways rember senator bride entelling me during -- after the time he had been selected to be vice president telling me i'm a senate guy. i'll always be a senate guy. mr. president, the senate will be in a period of morning business.

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Harry Reid: it will -- we'll after the distinguished republican leader and i have finished our remarks. and following senator biden's statement, as soon as we f senator clinton will come and give her farewell address and in addition senator salazar intends to give his sometime as soon as there is

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Harry Reid: clearance on the calendar. but it will be today. at noon the senate wl resume consideration of s. 22, the 10 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled between bingaman and coburn. the senate will consider any management of amendments and proceed to roll call on the

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Harry Reid: passage of the bill. the senate will proceed to the s. 21 the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. also at 10:00 p.m. senator appointee but is will take the -- burris

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Harry Reid: office and senate appointee kauffman will be sworn to replace senator biden of delaware. with respect regarding the emergency act, the tarp legislation, yesterday we proposed a unanimous consent agreement to limited amount of debate and a

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Harry Reid: vote on the joint resolution we hope to be able to lock agreement in shortly. mr. president, just brief remarks. with all of the challenges our country face, i think we all agree on the importance of this congress to get off to a fast an effective start. in many ways i believe we're on that track.

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Harry Reid: today we'll likely pass a major wilderness bill that will provide enjoyment for generations to come. the press reports it is the most significant environmental bill a century. we're making progress on the confirmation hearings so that president-elect obama will hit the ground running.

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Harry Reid: and we have new committee assignments, today we vote on stopping a filibuster on a motion to proceed to the lilly ledbetter legislation that ensus fair pay in the rkplace. this should not be necessary it is -- necessary. it is a waste of time. our country's time. after two lislative days to get the bill here before the senate to have this vote today,

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Harry Reid: we must wait another 30 hours until we can start offering amendments on the bill. that's a waste of time. that's four days at least of wasted time and unnecessary delay. i hope that in the future we can just go to the bill. avoid the cloture filing on a motion to proceed. instead of forcing cloture motions that only waste time and delay progress. i urge my republican colleagues

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Harry Reid: to offer amendments. if they object scwhrect to parts of this bill -- object to parts of this bill, the lilly ledbetter bill, let's work on a list of amendments and get through them. i don't approve of the leader doesn't approve of the senators will have an opportunity to vote on the amendments up or down. it doesn't get any fairer -- or there may be motions to table,

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Harry Reid: but at lea have a right to offer the amendments. i think that we have an opportunity to get this congress off on right foot. i want all to know there is no attempt by democrats to jam legislation without republican involvement. i ask republican colleagues to accept my offer to work with us rather than revert path of obstruction that serve neither party nor the american people well.

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Harry Reid: so i would help as soon as this vote takes place today that we can not have to wait 30 hours or five hours or any amount of hours, let's just start legislating on the bill. people can offer amendments today after we get the votes out of the way. they can offer votes tomorrow. i hope that we can do that. we can always as we have done in

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Harry Reid: the past,f there is a sers of amendments, we can stack the votes to vote at a more convenient time for everyone. i hope that we can do that. now, mr. president, finally, let me just say about vice president-elect joe biden. senator joe biden. joe biden.

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Harry Reid: everyone knows about courage, his wonderful family, his remarkable career in the united states senate. we know that he overcame a tremendous difficult personal tragedy during the first few da after his election. i'm not sure many could have had

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Harry Reid: the strength that he had to conquer and then, of course, he got sick many years l back. it was when tim johnson was in the hospital, in a coma that joe bidenisited him a and talked to that there will be times, as he's recovering that, he may be

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Harry Reid: embased by his inability to speak very well. joe biden, one of the great orator's in the history of the country, no one would have eve have known that he had a problem very similar to tim johnson. he

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Harry Reid: build tim's ability to come back to the senate. we here know his wonderful family. now because of his exposure to america, our country h introduced to this great family. we know that he is in his seventh term of the senate. he has been a chairman of the

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Harry Reid: judiciary committee and he's a champion of rights for women, environment and a strong military and the role of when i think of joe biden, though, mr. president, i have known him here since i came to the -- to the congress in 1982. later. but in all of this time the

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Harry Reid: picture in my mind is during the heat of the presidential campaign i'm driving down capital of the state of nevada, carson city, and i look out on the corner there, and there is joe biden in carson city, nevada. he had a number of people around him. i stopped the car, i got out.

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Harry Reid: and gave joe a handshake and a big hug. it was so joe biden to be there. he was there pressing flesh and talking to voters. the people of nevada have come to know and love joe biden for that very reason. he's is at one of the sandwich shops

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Harry Reid: that came from delaware to nevada, capriati's, it was a delaware-based sandwich shop, they all have pictures of joe biden in it. he's a regular kind of guy who shows up on street corners to talk to people. i will always rember with gratitude the kindn to me when i first arrived in

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Harry Reid: the senate in 1986. i will be forever grateful that he was one of the first colleagues to support my candidacy for democratic whip. he was in my office. he called in his s but he said, i take no more calls on this. reid's my man. well, i've always been his.

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Harry Reid: i'm a senate guy, just like joe biden. we can't get that out of our blood. i wish him well. he's going to be a great representative of our country. and i'm able to say to joe biden, you're

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Mitch McConnell: my friend. mr. mcconnel the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i too shortly want t make some remarks about our good friend from delaware as take up his new responsibilities. but, first, a few about the next item up on the agenda is the -- is the

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Speech By: Mitch McConnell

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Mitch McConnell: so-called ledbetter legislation. let me say to my good friend, the majority leader, i intend to vote for cloture on the motion to proceed. he and i have had a number of constructive conservations privately and he again today publicly that we're going to make an effort to get the way it used to, which is that bi

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Mitch McConnell: and so i have said is to my colleagues, i would say to my good friend trust you and believe you that we're going to get on the ledbetter bill. we're going to have amendments and have votes and then dispose of the legislation in the normal way. with regard to the substance of that particular measu

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Mitch McConnell: the gross distortions that voters heard about this legislation in the runup in the no dbetter bill, as written, is neither about women nor fairness, and it's not about whether pay discrimination should be illegal. pay discrimination is illegal.

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Mitch McConnell: and it rather this bill is about how long the statute of limitations on pay discrimination suits should be. last night republicans began to outline a proposal for addressing this question in a way that's fair for everyone. senator hutchison's bill the right balance. it says the clock suldn't run

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Mitch McConnell: on out someone who has been discriminated against until he or she discrimination. this way the focus is where it should be, on the injured party. the unfairly targets business owners who may or may not have discriminated against a man or woman on the basis of pay years

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Mitch McConnell: or even decades ago. its primary beneficiaries are lawyers who want major settlement out of every company that fears t expense or the publicity of going to court. this bill is unfair to business owners who in many cases will no longer have the evidence they would need to defense and it is unfair it the

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Mitch McConnell: millions of are worried about losing their jobs in the current economic downturn. job creators have enough to worry about at the moment. adding the threat of never-ending lawsuits is a new burden that the federal government shouldn't even considering at this particular time. no right-thinking american would defend discrimination of any

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Mitch McConnell: kind in the workplace or anywhere else and it is unfair to the public touggest that those who oppose this bill endorse discrimination. it degrades our public discourse and it degrades the legislative process. as written because it will paralyze businesses and add an even greater strain on workers than they currently face.

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Mitch McConnell: we support a business climate that creates the conditions for harasses the millions of men and women in this country who support themselves, tir families and their workers by owning and operating small businesses. republicans have a better proposal and good -- and other good ideas to help american workers. i believe we need to get on the

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Mitch McConnell: ledbette minutes ago, and have an open debate about it so that the american people can hear the republican alternatives and the senate has an opportunity to vote on more than what our good friends on the other side have offere now, mr. president, turning to the issue of the moment, which

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Mitch McConnell: is the celebration of the career of our good friend from delaware and wishing him well in the future. i rember being sworn in in january of 1985, thinking i had gotten to the senate at a pretty rly age. i was 42 years old. and i think i got here at a pretty early age.

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Mitch McConnell: at the same day i was third term. he was barely old enough to vote when he got here. and we year, but you got a 12-year head start on me, i would say, mr. president, to my friend from delaware, and has had an extraordinarily distinguished career.

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Mitch McConnell: when we think about senator bide his demeanor, his friendliness. he can have a good rip-roaring debate without being disagreeable, as he's been a pleasure to work with. and i say that has rarely

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Mitch McConnell: side as he has. we say goodbye today to an outstanding individual who's been really a fixture in the senate for 36 years, and a friend to everyone in the chamber. and he's now, of course, had -- he's going to enjoy an even

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Mitch McConnell: greater achievement as he becomes the vice president of the united states. i rember right from the beginning discussing a few minutes ago, that senator biden everybody feel comfortable. although we're born in year, as i indicated, he

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Mitch McConnell: certainly got here at an early, early age, and it has allowed him to spend most of life in the united states senate. now, america got to know joe pretty the last year. they got a chance to witness his humor, his compassion, and,

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Mitch McConnell: his they learned firsthand he's his not entirely undes reputation for loquaciousness, andhey met his wonderful family. barack obama decided he what he saw in jo biden as well and invited him to be his running mate in what turned out

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Mitch McConnell: to be a spirited presidential campaign. and so next week, after the peaceful transition of power from one political party to another that has distinguished our biden will become the 47th vice president of the united states. this inaugurat first time in almost 50 years

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Mitch McConnell: that two senators moved directly into the officesf and vice president. and so no matter what outcome some of us may have hoped for in the election, i think my colleagues and i can feel a little institutional pride at that accomplishment. sworn in as president and vice

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Mitch McConnell: everyone knows by know joe's famous loyalty to his amtrak and his regular commute by rail 80 minutes each day from his home in wilmington to the capitol. and we know of his commitment to being home with his family every night. and i'm sure every single one of my friends in this chamber has a story to tell of working with joe.

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Mitch McConnell: for my part, one of several efforts joe and i worked together on was the palestinian antiterrism act passed in 2006, after the election ofhe hamas-dominated government in gaza, joe recognized, as i and others did, the threat that that situation posed and continues to

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Mitch McConnell: pose as we see up close the last week. the threat that all of that poses to peace in the region. thanks to his efforts, we were able to pass and have signed into law this important bill which restricts u.s. and foreign assistance to government unless and until it takes terror and publicly recognize israel's right to exist.

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Mitch McConnell: that bill was the rig thing to do to confront terrorism. i'm proud of my wor with joe biden on that, and i know he is to i've also w tightening sanctions on the dictatorial illegitimate regime ruling in burma. among other

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Mitch McConnell: lantos act restricts the importation of burmese j america through other countries. that takes every lucrative source of profit from the burmese regime. joe's well versed in these issues and many others thaofrpbgz his years on senate foreign relations mmittee with much of that time as either chairman or ranking member.

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Mitch McConnell: i know his particularly proudf his role in pushing for nato expansion in central and eastern europe in 1988 and 2003. we'll miss joe's presence as one of 100. it will take some getting used to to have a senate witho but the good news is he's not going very far. obviously senator biden's

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Mitch McConnell: election as vice president is a tribute to his 36 years of public service. i look forward to working with him as incoming administration, as congress and the new president work together to tackle the many difficult issues this nation faces. d let me just say on a personal basis, mr. president,

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Mitch McConnell: joe, it's been a pleasure knowing you and work with you over the years. elaine and i wish you and jill

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Joseph Biden: the very best in years ahead. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate shall proceed to a period of morning business until 12:00 noon. the senator from mr. biden: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to be able

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Speech By: Joseph Biden

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Joseph Biden: to proceed as if in morning the presiding officer: without objection. mr. biden: mr. president, let me begin by thanking the tphraoerdz their kind -- leaders for their kind comments. it is true i long time, i say to my friend fr as a matter of fact, as i prepared my remarks, i say to my friend from hawaii, i rember the first time i stood on the floor as a united states

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Joseph Biden: senator. it was a desk directly to your left, senator, the top row here, second in. it was temporarily my desk. and i rember standing up and having been told that the desk on my right was the desk of henry clay's, on my left daniel webster, because the senior senator from the states got those desks.

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Joseph Biden: and i say to my friend from california, it was the only time i can rember being speechless, when i stood 30-year-old kid thinking god. well, i never thought i'd be standing here today. i never believed serving this chamber was my destiny, but it always was a big part of my dreams. you know, i rember vividly the

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Joseph Biden: first time i walked in this chamber, i walked through those doors. i walked through those doors as a 21-year-old tourist. i had been down visiting some of my friends at georgetown university. i went to the university of delaware, and i was -- had a blind date with a young phraed

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Joseph Biden: sr eu si, visitation -- a young lady from a school they used to call visi, visitation. after the evening, i got up -- i don't drink, not for morale reasons but i never had a drink there is nothing worse being a sober guy with a bunch of guys who have pa hangover the next morning.??

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Joseph Biden: i got up and deced i'd get in the car. it is a true story, senator carper, and i drove up to the capitol. i was fascinated with it. in those days you could literally drive right up to the front steps. i was 21 years old. this is 1963. and i say to my friend from iowa, i drove up to the steps

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Joseph Biden: and there was session that just ended. i walked up the steps and found myself in front of what we call the elevators. i walked to the right, the reception room, there was no one there. those glass tkaorbgs those french -- those glass doors, those french doors leading to the chamber, there was no sign there. i justalked in and came

0:23:32 to 0:23:53( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: through those doors. i walked into the chamber, the lights were still on, and i was awe-struck. literally awe-struck. and what in god's nam do it, but i walked up, i say to my friend from arkansas, and i sat in the presiding officer's chair. and i was mesmerized. and the next thing i know, i feel this hand on my shoulder,

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Joseph Biden: and a guy -- a capitol policeman picks me up you doing? and after a few moments, he realized i was just a dumb-struck kid and didn't armey or anything. but that was -- or anything. but that was the first time i walked on the senate floor. it is literally a true story.

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Joseph Biden: and, by the way, and just nine years later, ten years later, i walked as a united states and a capitol hill policeman stopped me walking in. he said you rember me? i said no, sir. he said i welcome you back to the senate. he was retired, a which capitol hill policeman retired.

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Joseph Biden: he was traoeurg two weeks later. he -- he was retiring two later. he said welcome to the floor legally. it is sort of a fitting way i started my career here, and i may not be a young man anymore but i am still awe-struck, still awe-struck by this chamber.

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Joseph Biden: and i think it brings my career full cycle to know that while i was once detained for sitting in the presiding officer's chair, i will now occasionally detained in the presiding officer's chair as president of the united states of america. the united states senate has been my life, and that is now a hyperbole. it has been my life.

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Joseph Biden: i've been a united states senator considerably longer than i was alive before i was a united states senator. and i may be resigning from the senate be a senate man. except for the title "father," there is no title, including vice president, that i am more

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Joseph Biden: proud to wear than that of united states senator. when i arrived here, giants -- giants -- loomed over the landscape of the senate. people with inouye, hubert humphrey, ed

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Joseph Biden: muskie, william fulbright, jacob javits, mike mansfield, scoop jackson, john claiborne pell, another pern who stood there, bob byrd and the lion of the kennedy.

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Joseph Biden: in those days, chairman dominated. literally if a chairman said he wanted a vote, without exception, every other chairman voted with that chairman on the vote on the floor of the united states senate in 1973. but the old ways of doing business and the old ways of thinking were at that very moment in the senate's history

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Joseph Biden: beginning to change. as my colleagues know, there was a long standing tradition in the united states senate, i think honored in the breach now more than the rule. but when i got here in 1973, it was mandatory that a new senator would pay respects to the --

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Joseph Biden: quote -- "old bulls of the senate." i never dreamed i'd be an old bull of the senate. but i rember the first appointment i made, it was to g see senator john stennis, chairman then of thermed services committee. i now have senator stennis' office. and i walked in, and senator

0:27:31 to 0:27:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: stennis had a great, mahogany conference table that was a gift from the philippines to vice president barkley for the liberation of the philippines. and he used it as his desk. there was no -- he had a blotter at one end of it and it seated -- i don't know how many people. 15 people. and it was his desk.

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Joseph Biden: and with a group of leather chairs around it. and i walked in -- and those of you who rember john stennis, when he talked, always put his hand up like this. and he looked at me and said "young man, sit down, sit down." and he patted the leather chair next to me. and i dutifully sat down.

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Joseph Biden: he said congratulations. he said may i ask you a question? i said, yes, sir. he said what made you run for the united states senate? and being tactful as i always am, i answered honestly without thinking, i said civil rights, sir. as soon as i did, i could feel the beads of perspiration pop out of my head, and i thought, oh, my god.

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Joseph Biden: and he looked at me, and he said -- absolutely true story -- he said, "good, and that was the end of the conversation. well, that was in 1988, time had transpired, he had become my good friend, w

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Joseph Biden: shared a hospital room, a hospital suite at walter reed for a had lost his leg to cancer. and it was during that period when president bush was coming into office. and as the tradition is, as all of my colleagues know, you

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Joseph Biden: get to choose your offices based on seniority. as they come up, an office come up. we all think our offices are the finest. i always thought that his office, which had been the office of a man he never referred to by his first name, senator inouye, that i can remember, and the man after whom the russell building is named -- chairman russell.

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Joseph Biden: it had been his office. so i walked down to look at his office. and it was that during that period of december when no one is around. and i walked in and think that his secretary of 30-some years was mable. my memory is not certain on that.

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Joseph Biden: i -- mable. and i walked into her office and all of these boxes were piled up. he was packing up 40-some years of service. and i said -- asi said, senator, welcome. you're going to come and take our office?

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Joseph Biden: i said, i don't know, mable, i'm going to check. i said is the chairman in. she said, no, you g the office. so i walked in the office. and without her knowing it senator stennis had come in the other door in the hallway and was sitting in his wheelchair this time in the exact same spot

0:30:44 to 0:31:04( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: with one leg, staring out at the office that overlooks the supreme court. and i sd, mr. chairman, i apologize for interrupting. he said, no, joe. come in. sit down.?? sit down. i sat down in that astounded me, senator boxer, he looked at me and he said, j, do you rember the first time

0:31:05 to 0:31:25( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: you came to see me? and i he said, i asked you, intold my friend from mississippi before as he walks to the floor about nator stennis, i asked him, asked me, he said, do you remember? and i said, no, i don't. i askedou why you ran for the senate. i said,

0:31:26 to 0:31:48( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i was a smart young wasn't i. he looked at me and he said you're going to take my office, aren't you, j he caressed that, that table that he loved so much, he caressed it as if it was an adamant object. he said you're going to take my office? i said, yes, i am. he said, i wanted to tell you

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Joseph Biden: then wha tell you now. he said this table chair was the flagship of the con fed si. if you read "masters of senate" in johnson's turn, you will see a -- term, you will see this table in my office, chaired by senator russell and he said

0:32:13 to 0:32:36( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: this was the flagship of the confederacy. every tuesday we bared here under senator russell's direction to plan the demise of the civil rights movement from 1954 he said it's time this table passes from the man who was against civil rights into the hands of a man who was for civil rights.

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Joseph Biden: and i found it genuinely, without exaggeration, moving. we talked a few more minutes and i got up and i got to the door. and he turned to me in that wheelchair and he said, one more thing, joe. he said, the civil rights movement did more -- more to free the white man than the black man. and i looked at him.

0:33:00 to 0:33:22( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i said, mr. chairman, how's that? and p remember as well as i did, he said, it freed my it freed my soul. well, ladies and gentlemen of the senate, i can tell you that by his own account john stennis

0:33:23 to 0:33:45( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: was personally enlarged by shifs in the senat -- by his service in the senate. that's the power of this institution. men and women who come to washington, who come in contact with folks in different parts of the country that we represent, slightly different cultural backgrounds, different

0:33:46 to 0:34:09( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: religions, different about what makes this country great. all races. all religions. and it opens a door for change. i think it opens a door for personal growth. and in that comes the political progress this nation has made.

0:34:10 to 0:34:31( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i learned that lesson as a ver young senator. i got here in 1973 and one of the people, along with dan and others on this floor, who kept me here, were -- was mike mansfield, the majority leader. and he used to once a week have

0:34:32 to 0:34:54( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: me report to his is where the leader's office is on the other side. and he really was doing it, i know, in retrospect to take my pulse, see how i was doing. and i walked in one day through those doors on the republican side and a man who had became my friend, jesse helms;

0:34:55 to 0:35:16( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: wife dot, who is still my close friend, i keep in contact with. and i walked through the doors and jesse helms who came in 1972 with me, was in the back talking to bob dole about the with disabilitiy act. and i walked through the floor on my way to the meeting with senator mansfield and i sat down on the other side of his desk.

0:35:17 to 0:35:41( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: some of you rember, he smoke add pipe a lot of times when he was his -- in hoifs. he said, joe, it looks like so he said -- i said, mr. leader, i can't believe what i heardn the floor of the senate. i can't believe anyone could be so heartless and care so little about people with disabilities.

0:35:42 to 0:36:02( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i tell you, it makes me angry. he said, joe, what would you say if i ago, mbe five, dodd helms and -- dot helms an jesse -- and the local newspaper and they saw

0:36:03 to 0:36:24( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: a piece in the paper about a young man in braces who was handicapped at an he was in his early teens. and all the caption said was the young man wanted nothing more for christmas than to be part of a family. he said, what you would say if i

0:36:25 to 0:36:45( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: told you dot helms and jesse helms adopted that young mans their own child? i said i would feel like a fool. an absolute fool. he said, well, they did. he said, joe,very man and woman sent here is sent here because their state recognizes

0:36:46 to 0:37:07( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: something decent about them. he said it's easy find the parts you don't like. i think your job, joe, is to find out that part that caused him to be sent here. he said, joe, another man's motive. question his judgment, but never his motive.

0:37:08 to 0:37:30( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: i think i can say without fear of couldn't diction -- contra diction, i never questioned anyone's motive. i learned that at the hands of iron mike mansfield who had more char than the vast majority of people that we know have in their whole bodies.

0:37:31 to 0:37:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: that advice has guided me, and hopefully well. and i hope it guides this congress. because those who are willing to look for the good in the other guy, the other woman, i think, become better people and become better and more able legislators. this approach allowed me to develop friendships i would have

0:37:52 to 0:38:13( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: never have expected would have occurred. i knew i'd be inouye who came to campaign for me. i knew i could be friends with ted kennedy and i knew i could be whom i shared a common view common philosophy.

0:38:14 to 0:38:35( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: but i never thought i would develop deep, persona relationships with men whose position played an extremely large part in my desire to come to the senate in the first place to change what they believed in. eastland, ste

0:38:36 to 0:38:57( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: of these men became my friends. as senator hatch will rember, i used to go over after every executive session of the united states senate judiciary committee and go into jim visch's ask him all of the dumb questions that a young kid would want to ask. who is the most powerful man you ever met, senator? what is the most significant

0:38:58 to 0:39:18( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: thing that ever occurred since you have been here? i asked him that air conditioning. i said, i beg he said that the most significant thing that happened since i got here is air conditioning. i thought, wow, that's kind of change. he said, well, he said, joe, he said before we had air

0:39:19 to 0:39:39( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: conditioning, he said, all of those these used to be great big pieces of glass, like in showers, he said, come around may, that sun -- he used t a little bit of profanity, which i will not use for appropriate reasons, he said that darn sun would beat down on the dome and

0:39:40 to 0:40:01( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: hit that magnifying glass and heat up like a chairman -- heat up the chamber and he said then we had the air conditioner and stayed year round and ruined america. senator stennis friend and supporter,ut one of

0:40:02 to 0:40:23( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: the most unlikely, unlikely friendships was strom thurmond. some of you knew my relationship with symptom. -- strom. did i that i would become friends with strom he stood for everything. everything. i got started because of civil

0:40:24 to 0:40:44( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Biden: rights. yet on his 100th birthday shortly thereafter, on his deathbed, i got a phone call from his wife, nancy. she said, i'm standing here at the nurse's station, joe, with the doctor. i just left strom. he asked me to call you. he wants a favor.

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Joseph Biden: i said, of course, nancy, whatever he wants. he said he would like you to do his eulogy. well, i never thought -- i never thought in my wildest dreams