Senate Proceeding on Sep 10th, 2009 :: 2:49:45 to 3:00:45
Total video length: 9 hours 48 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:31 Duration: 0:11:00 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

2:49:43 to 2:50:03( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: warrior and a great champion of american values. i thank the chair. i yield the floor. a senato the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. unanimous consent the period of

2:49:45 to 3:00:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Tom Harkin

2:50:04 to 2:50:25( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: morning business extend until 2:30 with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes east. the presiding officer: without objection,o ordered. mr. harkin appear police sailor and alease camp be granted floor privileges of the session. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. harkin: mr. president, around this chamber i see men

2:50:26 to 2:50:46( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: men of remarkable talents and abilities an i have a strong sense, we all do, that there is a tremendous void now in our midst. a very special senator, a very special friend, a member who played a unique role within this body for nearly half a century is no longer with us.

2:50:47 to 2:51:07( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: we've her many glowing and richly earned contribute outs to senator ted kennedy the last couple of weeks. he was not only the most accomplished senator of the last 50 years but truly one of the towering figures in the entire history of the united states senate. yet for all his accomplishments,

2:51:08 to 2:51:28( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: for all the historic bills he authored and shepherded into law, for all the battles he fought, i will remember today first and foremost as just a good and decent human being. i remember his extraordinary generosity, his courage

2:51:29 to 2:51:50( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: passion, his capacity for friendship and caring and, of course, that great sense of humor. i remember one time office and we had a phone conversation. it was about a disagreement we

2:51:51 to 2:52:14( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: had. and it was right at st. patrick's day and so we were having this discussion on the phone and tempers got a little heated. i think i was holding the phone out about like this and he probably was, too. i think thursday voices god -- i

2:52:15 to 2:52:36( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: think our voices got raised and we were yelling at each other and pretty soon we just hung up on each other. well, i felt very badly about this and i know he did, too, so several hours later i came on the floor and i sad ted at his desk and went up to him and pulled up the chair next to him

2:52:37 to 2:52:57( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: and he had kind a on his face, that twinkle in his eye and i said, ted, i sorry about that conversation we had, shouldn't have lost my tempe like i did and he staff is a little concerned about our relationship.

2:52:58 to 2:53:18( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: and he sort of got that great smile and chuckled and said, i just told my staff that's just the two irish men celebrate st. patrick's day. that's just the way he was. he could dis disarm you immediately and you move on.

2:53:19 to 2:53:40( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: he had a great, great, disarming sense of humaner. ted came from a remarkable fa so many tough so many triumphs. so many contributions to our nation. both in war and in peace. ted and his siblings were born to great wealth and they could have lived lives of luxury and

2:53:41 to 2:54:01( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: leisure but devote themselves to public service. they devoted themselves to making the world a better place for others especially those in the shadows of life. and there are so man things i could focus on this morning in my brief remarks, but i want to focus on just one aspect of ted kennedy.

2:54:02 to 2:54:24( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: that is all that he did to improve the lives of people with disabilities in our country. i thought about this with the death of on august 11, and she founded the special olympics and the

2:54:25 to 2:54:46( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: death of ted on august 25th people with disabilities in this country lost two great champions. their sister rosemary had a severe iellectual disability. the entire kennedy family is acquainted with the joys struggles of those with disabilities. and those of us who are in the church in bostoat the

2:54:47 to 2:55:08( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: and those who probably watching on television heard the eloquent speech by teddy jr. and his battle with cancer at a young age and losing his leg and his confronting has disabilities and how ted helped him get through that.

2:55:09 to 2:55:29( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: in 1975, sator kennedy helped to pass the individuals with sabilities education act, i.d. in 1978 he passed the legislation expanding the jurisdiction of the civil rights commission to protect people from discrimination on the basis of disability. in 1980 he introduced the civil

2:55:30 to 2:55:50( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: rights for institutionalized persons act protecting the rights of people in government institutions including the elderly and those with mental disabilities. and 19 years ago he was one of most important leaders and partners in patsing the americans with disa-in passing americans with disabilities act

2:55:51 to 2:56:12( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: in 1990. after i had been in the senate for two in charge. in 1986, the democrats came back and took charge and senator kennedy wants me on his education and health committee. well, i sort of played hard to get.

2:56:13 to 2:56:33( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: i said, well, maybe, but, i am really interested in disability sures and he knew about that and knew about the work i had done in the house before i came here especially on people with hearing problems. and i said, i would like to come on his committee but i said i would be interested in working

2:56:34 to 2:56:55( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: on disability issues. and he got back to me said, i have the disability policy subcommittee and you can charity. i'm a i didn't have to -- he didn't have to do that for me. i was astounded at this. this great generosity. and so i've always appreciated that.

2:56:56 to 2:57:18( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: he had extensive record on disability issues yet he let me take the lead and when the americans with disabilities act act came up, he could have taken that. he was the chairman of the committee and he had this lost of people with disabilities and

2:57:19 to 2:57:40( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: yet he knew how passionately i felt about it and he let me author the bill. he let me take he let me be the floor manager of it and put my name on it. he didn't have to he was the chairman. he could have had his ne on it.

2:57:41 to 2:58:03( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: he could have floor managed it. he let me do it. in spite of the fact a freshman senator. and he was just an indispensable leader if bringing disparate groups together to get the americans with disabilities act passed. i will never forget that great act of gener

2:58:04 to 2:58:25( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: letting me take the lead on it. ted always should not be on disability but ability that people with disabilities must be fully included in our american family. so americans with disabilities had no better friendship, n tougher fighter and no more relentless champion than te kennedy.

2:58:26 to 2:58:47( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: yesterday, i accepted the chairmanship of the senate "help" committee, the health, education, labor and pensions committee. it is a good honor and a great challenge. i mt add, somewhat daunting. carrying on the legacy of stick sterk. -- the

2:58:48 to 2:59:10( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: legacy of stick sterk. he secured -- he wanted all citizens to have health care as a right, not a privilege. in the democratic cloakroom there is a page from the cap cod times, a wonderful picture of ted.

2:59:11 to 2:59:32( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: and a quote from him. here's the boy i have known the joy of sailing the waters of cape cod. for al my years in public life i have believed that america must sail toward the shores of liberty a justice for all.

2:59:33 to 2:59:53( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: there is no end to tha that journey, only the next great voyage." well, mr. p heard many eloquent tributes to senator kennedy but the tribute that would matter most to him would be for his colleagues to come together on a bipartisan basis to pass a strong comprehensive health care reform

2:59:54 to 3:00:14( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: bill this year. it is time for us to sail ahead better and more just and more caring america. so as we sadly contemplate the

3:00:15 to 3:00:35( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: empty desk draped in black, we say "farewell" to a beloved colleague. he's no longer with us. but his work continues. his spirit is here. and as he said, the cause endures. may ted kennedy rest in peace.

3:00:36 to 3:00:46( Edit History Discussion )

Tom Harkin: but may we not rest until we have completed the cause of his life, the cause he fought for until his last breath ensuring