Senate Proceeding on Jan 16th, 2009 :: 1:09:40 to 1:16:05
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1:09:40 to 1:16:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Thomas Carper

1:09:54 to 1:10:15( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: united states mr. carper: mr. president? the presiding officer: the recognized. mr. carper: well, actually it's not the first time i've been recognized as the senior senator. for about two months now, ever since for -- and elected as vice president, people have been referring to me as the senior

1:10:16 to 1:10:37( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: senator, and i always have to correct them. i say, well, no, it's fourays, three hours, 12 minutes away. and we kind of count it down. and today we counted down to zero. but yesterday when senator biden resigned at 5:00 for -- i think for 17 hours i was both the junior senator and the senior senator, which dick durbin wa was -- held that role for almost

1:10:38 to 1:10:58( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: two months from illinois. and i asked one of my colleagues, do you think i'll get paid more for that? and i said no, probably not. you shouldn't be. but i -- we le meant the loss of joe biden in the united states senate, thrilled that he's going to have the opportunity to become the first delawarean ever to be vice president of the united states. and as wonderful as he is as a

1:10:59 to 1:11:20( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: senator, he'll do wonderful for our country in his new role than he could have done here. so it's a good thing, for the administration and i think for the country. and i think ultimately for delaware. if we had to lose joe biden to the vice presidency of the united states, we could not ask for a better person to take his place than ted kaufman. sometimes people come here and

1:11:21 to 1:11:41( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: they've never served in elective fice. ted has not but he comes here steeped in the knowledge of this senate, knows the players, knows the way this place works, has a pretty good idea how to -- i think to make it work -- work better. he has served as joe biden's chief of staff for about 20 years. joe's been in the u.s. senate for 36 years.

1:11:42 to 1:12:02( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: for over half of those years, ted was his chief of staff. and maybe in a sense his alter ego. i like to thi those. and you couldn't ask for a better one than ted cough man. as our leader said, get into the university of delaware but he was able to get into duke as an undergraduate and studi engineering there, later went to the -- couldn't get into the

1:12:03 to 1:12:24( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: university of delaware m.b.a. program but he did get into the m.b.a. program at wharton school, university of pennsylvania. won't to work for the dupont company for aand met a guy running for senate at the tender age of 29. and a lot of people in our state got excited about joe biden, signed up to volunteer in his campaign and later on ended up

1:12:25 to 1:12:46( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: being his chief of staff. i -- i think it's fair to say that joe biden would not have been the senator in our state's history to be elected to seven terms as united states senator but for the support of ted, not just for those 19 years but for being his friend all those years and all the years since, to work through with joe through two presidential campaigns, to be

1:12:47 to 1:13:08( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: his advisor and counselor and to always have his back. always have his back. ted is smart. we have a lot of smart people here but he's also wise. ted is very well spoken. he's a wonderful speaker. there are a lot of good speakers here. but he's also a very good listener. ted takes his work seriously, takes our work seriously.

1:13:09 to 1:13:31( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: but one of the things i love about ted is he doesn't take himself all that seriously. he's a lot of fun to be with and he'll be a good colleague and a good friend. he inherits a good staff and he shared with me that he expects to largely keep that staff together. people come and go in these jobs but the good news? that most of the people in are onboard now are going to stay onboard.

1:13:32 to 1:13:52( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: but for myself, and our at-large congressman mike castle, i think that's very good news. he'll be taking over the same committees that senator biden has served on in judiciary and foreign relations and i'm sure do an excellent, excellent job there. in addition dupont and spending almost 20 years as joe's chief of staff, he's also taught, taught at duke

1:13:53 to 1:14:13( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: in a couple of capacities there. he's taught at stanford, as i recall. and for the want to say about 15 years, he's served on the board of governors that oversees and tries to make sure that we promote d in other countries, we do that through a variety of ways but in part throu operations. but he's been a -- confirmed i

1:14:14 to 1:14:34( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: think on the board of governors maybe four terms. four terms. and i don't know that he'll serve four terms here. he promised his wife he wouldn't but time will tell. and speaking of his wife, ted tells me he physician started dating his -- first started dating his wife when she was 12 -- no, it was 18. and they've been married since 1960. they've got three kids --

1:14:35 to 1:14:58( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: they're not kids, they're daughters, and they have, what, search grandchildren or something like that. wonderful family. and i was talking about joe biden when h yesterday, gave a beautiful speech. i said, joe, i in terms of loving husband, father, grandfather. and ted is very much out of that same mold. so

1:14:59 to 1:15:20( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: i -- while we lament the departure of joe, we warmly welcome ted kaufman to this family. i think in the history of the country there are 1,700 or so who have been privileged to serve as the united states senate. and a few extra ones this week. sort of out of regular order. but this is a good thing for our

1:15:21 to 1:15:41( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: state, senate and it is a personal privilege, just a special joy for me. so, ted kaufman, to you, lynn, and your family, welcome to this family. god a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. great things about this job isly be able to help tom carper reach a great objective to be a senior

1:15:42 to 1:16:02( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: senator of delaware. i want to thank you for your remarks. they're as gracious as i look forward to working with you in the future. mr. carper: senator biden is standing by here talking about -- there are three or four other new senators. unfortunately he cannot speak as a senator, but we'll find an opportunity for him to preside

1:16:03 to 1:16:07( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: from time to time and get some things off his chest.