This is the best of this institution of how it performs. It has been embodied in the Public Service of carl levin for 36 years here. What you have heard is the testimonies on both sides of the aisle that because of how he has conducted himself as an individual and how he has conducted himself as a Public Servant and how he has conducted himself as a leader in this senate is exactly how this institution is supposed to function. Isnt it rather symbolic that on the last couple of days of the session the bill that will be passed is the bill that he has ushered and he never broke tradition. He made sure the Defense Authorization bill was going to be passed by hammering out the differences with the house and shepherding it through the parliament process. And its happened every year because of extraordinary leadership. I will close simply by saying that because he is all of the things that youve heard, the consummate gentleman, the humble Public Servant, the razor sharp mind, the best lawyer, by the way, in the entire senate, because he is all of those things, he also is the embodiment of a senator, because when he gives you his word, thats it. You dont have to worry anymore. The future senates should take a lesson from the life and the leadership of carl levin of michigan. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from west virginia. Mr. Manchin mr. President , i rise with honor and pleasure to be able to say thank you to my dear friend. I am the most junior member, besides yourself, in this body today, and when i first came to the senate and i have asked for Armed Services. West virginia has a large percentage of putting an awful lot of people, percentagewise than most states that have served in all the branches of the military. The National Guard is very near and dear to me. There are many reasons i wanted to be Armed Services. When i got here in the most toxic times of the political arena, if you will. It was not what i expected, to say the least. Seeing the toxic atmosphere that i come into, people said it didnt used to be this way. It used to work. The process worked. The whole senate aura of the senate was there, and were losing that. So that was their excuse for telling me this is why its not working today but it used to work. And i kept thinking. Then i became part of this committee, Armed Services committee, with this unbelievable chairman whose name is carl levin. I watched and observed. I didnt say a whole lot at first, as freshmen arent supposed to, but i watched and i learned and i saw the system the way i imagined it probably was 20, 30, 40 years ago when it did work. I saw the senate. And im thinking why cant the rest of the senate work the way the Armed ServicesCommittee Works . And there is one reason we dont have enough carl levin. We just dont have enough carl levin. Practical, reasonable, sensible. It makes sense to me what he would say. I had difficulties. Just recently, i have had difficulties on a piece of legislation. Its very important. Carl spoke to me in terms that my father would have spoke to me, and i understood very well. State your opposition, record your opposition and look at the whole situation as the good of the bill better than basically this piece that you oppose, and you can explain your opposition. Just different things. The way carl would say and carl would always say this, too. You ask him. He would say listen, i cant tell you what to do. I may have heard that. I cant tell you what you have to do. And really, you have to do what you think is right. And let me give you some points to think about. Thats an unbelievable mentor that will give you the ability to kind of process this whole system that were in. Let me just say this, carl. I have im sorry that i didnt have the honor and the opportunity and the pleasure to serve with you many, many more years. I really am. Or i didnt get here soon enough, whatever the case may be. But you have left an impression on me as how the place should work. Robert c. Byrd, my senate predecessor, basically felt as passionate as you do. There is a process here. There is a reason for the process to make us talk to each other, to make this place work, and there is never a situation that we should get into thats as important to the american citizen or this country that we cant work it out and cant get at least 60 votes. Never a time that we couldnt get 60 votes. If we do, then basically just changing the rule is not going to change the attitude and atmosphere that were in. So i believe very strongly in that and i appreciate the fight you have. We have a saying in west virginia. In the hills of west virginia, we have a saying. Theyre good people. You meet somebody, and he says theyre good people. Carl, youre good people. Thank you. The presiding officer the senator from maryland. Mr. Cardin mr. President , one of the great honors of serving in the United States senate and it is a great honor to serve in this body is the fact that i have had the opportunity to serve with carl levin. I think senator levin represents the very best of our political system, the very best of the United States senate and why im so proud to be part of this institution. I must tell you, i came from the house of representatives and i had the great pleasure to have as one of my closest friends in the house of representatives carls brother sandy. Sandy is an incredibly talented person who believes in Public Service, and like his brother carl, the two of them had devoted their family reputation to Public Service and has given so much back. Carl, i could tell you what youve done for national security, for our national defense, the type of attention that you have paid to make sure that this country is as well prepared as it needs to be. Youve done that in an exemplary way. I could tell you what you have done for the people of michigan, the type of representative. You have been a great United States senator for your state but a great United States senator for the United States, and thats not always an easy balance that you have been able to do. And as so many colleagues have said, when we seek advice, when we need a senator to help us understand something, we go to carl levin. I know some of my constituents have a hard time believing that we read the bills around here. Carl levin reads the bills around here. Hes found typographical errors in some of my legislation. Hes found ways that we didnt express ourselves the way that we should have. He writes me notes all the time. And i thank him for that dedication. But as several of our colleagues have pointed out, there is no one here who has a greater love for the traditions the best traditions, the best traditions of the United States senate, a senate that that debates and respects each other. And one of the great opportunities i had was to sit in a room with Lamar Alexander and carl levin and others and talk about that and how we could restore the best tara traditions of the United States senate. So senator levin, i just want you to know i will always be indebted to serving in this body with you and learning from you and recognizing just what one person can do to carry out the honor and dignity of Public Service. You really define Public Service, and for that, i am very grateful, the people of michigan are grateful, the people of america are grateful. Congratulations for a Great Service to our country. Mr. Brown mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. Its no surprise to any of us that the first thing carl levin did when he spoke today was thank the staff, not just his own staff but the police force and the grounds keepers and the food Service People and the people that too many in this world ignore. That was the first thing he did. The second thing carl did in his address was to talk about the gulf between the fortunate few and the struggling many. That has been what i most admire about carl levin, that hes always aware of that and always fighting the fight for people that have a lot less privilege that those of us do that dress like this and get really great titles. And no one, frankly, no one in this body has stood up to special interests and the most powerful forces in this town more effectively and more energetically than carl levin, and for that i am so grateful, and i know so many of us in this country are so grateful. Thank you, senator levin. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley mr. President , when i came here in 2009, we were in the middle of an enormous meltdown due to highrisk trading inside our major banks, and i wondered whether we as an institution were capable of undertaking this challenge of changing the circumstances around that in order to not have another 20072008 meltdown that would do so much damage to families across this country, and i put out an email to everyone and said is anyone interested in taking on this issue for the future stability of our financial system, and the next day i came to the floor, and senator levin said the email you sent out, i want to talk to you about that. I want to partner in taking this on, and immediately basically said well Work Together. Im not the senior senator who wants to take over this effort, although i would have been glad for that to happen, but he took his there was not the ego in it. There was the intellect and the passion and the determination to fix a problem. And to me, the senate should be about people coming together to fix problems to make this nation work better, and that event is deeply burned into my mind. The result, because of senator levins efforts, was the volcker rule that said that highrisk trading should not be done on the banks books for highrisk trading and highrisk instruments. It will make a significant difference in the years to come. But what i particularly want to thank my colleague for is the attitude of coming together to solve important problems for america, even if that means taking on very powerful special interests, and i hope well see a lot more of that from this senate in the years to come, but it will be a much bigger challenge without you here, and we will miss you greatly, and thank you so much, senator, for your service to our nation. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander mr. President , the senate at its best has been said to be the one authentic piece of genius in the american political system. Carl levin is the senate at its best. I thank him for his courtesy, his decency, his scholarship and his sense of Public Service, and i thank him for his reminder that if we are going to have the trust of the American People to write rules for them, we should follow our own rules. Its been a privilege to serve with him. Thank you, mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Harkin mr. President , i, too, want to spend just a couple of moments reflecting upon my long friendship and association with senator carl levin from michigan. Much has been said here about carl, the person and the senator. Let me just say this i dont know of anyone in this body who has exhibited more of an intellectual honesty, a calm demeanor, a sense of fierce loyalty and perseverance. I dont know anyone who exhibits those qualities more than carl levin. Carl embodies the best of what i think it means to be both a citizen and a United States senator. Barbara and carl and ruth and i have enjoyed many meals together over the years, great conversations about everything, and i just want to say to my friend carl, i hope that michigan and iowa are not so far apart that we cant continue to get together in the future, and i will say, carl, right now i hope that i hope that you dont hold it against me for all of the times that the hawkeyes will beat the wolverines in the future. Dont let that be a stumbling block to our friendship. [laughter] i yield the floor, mr. President. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Inhofe ill be very brief because i know that we have some other things coming up before our going on to the ndaa and ill be standing here with my good friend and brother, carl, at that time. But i recall when i was first elected to the house of representatives its hard for me to believe thats 28 years ago i became good friends of a guy named levin there. But it wasnt carl, it was his brother. And there was a real sincere lovable attitude by him. I can remember talking over some of these sitting by him during some of the debate on very partisan things and i really thought, this guy is really neat, you know. You cant he has the its the kind of thing where you cant dislike him. Well, then i came over here 20 years ago and theres another one. And it just happens that my Major Committee well, i have two Major Committees, environment and public works and the senate Armed Services committee and i thought, this is remarkable because while on occasion we will differ im talking about the chairman and me; and im the Ranking Member of that committee occasionally well come up on an issue where we dont agree. And then when we on two occasions last year and this year we had to go into this process of the big four. Now, thats where it gets really contentious because at that point, youve got to come up with a bill. And so there was never a time yes, we had to give in. I dont know whether he gave in more than i gave in, but whatever it was, it it all had to happen and it did happen and it happened because of carl more than me. Chairman levin and i can both say the same thing, people will hate me and they love him. I always wonder how you get by with doing that but you do. So he is a lovable guy that i will sincerely miss and that relationship, and i hope that youll be back often so you can be here to remind other people what a real statesman is. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Sanders mr. President , i just want to take a moment to thank carl levin for his friendship. I think, as has been previously noted, carl is recognized as having perhaps the greatest intellect here in the United States senate. Carl has been for so many years a forceful fighter against waste in the military and in recent years he has led the United States senate in telling us that it is absurd that large multinational corporations that are able to avoid hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes by storing their money in offshore tax havens. Hes been a leader on that. And for those of us who are concerned about the needs of our kids and our elderly and our infrastructure and all the terrible problems facing this country, this is an issue we have got to focus on. So i think senator carl levin has been a senators senator. He has been a model of what a good senator should be. It is not surprising that people from all political persuasions will come to the floor to thank him for his service. So, senator levin, thank you very much for your friendship. Mr. Franken mr. President . As long as we have a money, i just want to the presiding officer the senator from minnesota. Mr. Franken i just want to echo what everyone has said. I had the honor of traveling on a codel with chairman levin to pakistan and afghanistan when id been here just a few weeks, so i was traveling with the chairman of the armed forces committee. And the respect that he got from everyone from the generals down to the privates when i was especially in afghanistan, was remarkable. Carl fought to increase the number of our the ratio of our troops to contractors. Carl, when he when we took the majority back in 2006, started doing the kind of oversight of the contracting that had been really led to a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in iraq. Hes used p. S. I. In the way it was intended by harry truman. And i thank him especially for the work he did on the Credit Rating agencies, the wall street Credit Rating agencies. Right now standards and poors is being prosecuted by or sued by d. O. J. For about 5 billion, and part of what theyre using are are emails that the permanent subcommittee on investigation obtained in which basically the Credit Rating agencies internally were saying we better give this a aaa rating, otherwise were going to lose our business. That, in no small way, led to the meltdown that we had because all this junk was getting aaas and those were bets on bets on bets on bets on bets and thats what led to the meltdown. And carl always seems to to go to where that kind of topdown fraud or malfeasance is going. And so when we talk about, as he opened, as sherrod mentioned when he talked about the disparities and how this is rigged very often from the topdown, talking about the offshoring and the work they did in p. S. I. , on the permanent subcommittee on investigations, on that is on tax havens, on inversions. And i hope to take that up as carl leaves. Carl leaves a lot of unfinished business. Everything thats been said has been said is who carl is. Everyone should know that. One thing hasnt been said is, he misha. So, carl, youre one of the most hemish men ive ever known. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from maine is recognized. Mr. King mr. President , i want to speak very briefly, because, as senator manchin somewhat impolitely pointed out, im the most junior person in the place. [laughter] but i want to say a couple things about carl levin. The first is, as has been said here repeatedly, carl levin is a man of immense intellect and character and i want to explain how that came to be. I thought that would be important to lay on the record. And it came to be because carl levin and his brother spent their boyhood summers in the state of maine. And that imparts character to anyone whos lucky enough to have that experience. Secondly, i w