Tributes to Mark Pryor

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I came to the floor without any prepared remarks, but I want to say a few words, if I could, about our colleague Mark Pryor.

I have affectionately called him ``Hey, man,'' because in Arkansas, when you see one of your friends, you don't just say ``hi, Tom'' or ``hi, Mark,'' you say ``hey, man.'' For the last 12 years, we have been saying a lot of ``hey, man's,'' and hopefully we will do so for a long time to come.

Ten or twelve days ago I was down in Honduras--murder capital of the world--and trying to figure out how to help save a nation that may be a failing nation. They have a lot of gangs down there--gangs involved in extorting money from businesses, a lot of them kidnapping people, trafficking people. Gangs have a bad connotation in Honduras, as they should--here in Washington, DC, and in the Senate, not so much.

Senator Collins and Senator Durbin have talked about some of the ``gangs'' this Senator from Arkansas has been involved in, which I think most of us would say are doing the Lord's work, doing good work. Mark is a man of deep faith, as we know, and he has been a great role model for the rest of us.

Mark has reminded me before--and maybe some others as well--that in the Old Testament, in Proverbs, we are reminded we should always pray for wisdom--always pray for wisdom. That is something I pray for every night--not just for my colleagues, of course, but certainly for me. All I can say is the good Lord has answered his prayer.

One of the reasons he has ended up as a member of these gangs for good is because he has so much wisdom. He is a good listener. He is just a very, very wise human being.

It has been a joy serving with him. He got here in 2003. He raised his right hand here and took the oath of office in 2003. He came through orientation for new Senators, and I talked to him about it later, and I said: How was orientation, Mark? He said: Well, it lasted about that long. It was over. If you are a Democrat, we are going to put you over here, and if you are a Republican, we will put you over here, and it was just like, have at it. He and I talked about it, and we said: That doesn't make much sense.

As an attorney general and a member of the Attorneys General Association, and myself as a former Governor and a member of the National Governors Association, we had a robust orientation program for new attorneys general and for new Governors. The Presiding Officer is a former Governor of Maine, and he recalls that well. I think one of the reasons why the Governors are less partisan and more likely to work across the aisle to get things done together--and the same with the attorneys general--is because of that orientation that occurs a couple weeks after the election. We didn't have anything like that in the Senate. So Senator Pryor, along with former Governor and Senator Voinovich, former Governor Alexander and myself decided to see if we could get some kind of orientation program here for Senators. Now when people show up a couple weeks after getting elected new Senators, they no longer get put over in one corner as Democrats and one corner as Republicans and are told to go at it. They spend some time together--maybe the most concentrated time they will have together during the

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time they are here--with folks of the other party. Those of us who are Senators and spouses and chaplains and so forth go in and provide information and tell them to learn from our mistakes--those of us who have made plenty of them--and you won't make those same mistakes.
One of the things Senator Pryor is especially good at doing is trying to connect each new Senator with a mentor--a Democratic Member and a Republican Member--and he was dogged in that. Not that everybody needs a mentor, but we all need friends. We need friends on both sides of the aisle, and you will keep those friendships for a long, long time.

I was a naval officer for 23 years. When I was a 17-year-old graduate from high school, I went off to Ohio State to eventually become a Navy midshipman. I did that for 4 years, 5 years as a naval flight officer in a hot war in Southeast Asia, and 18 in the Cold War until I retired in 1991. I started learning about leadership when I was pretty young--something I learned before I became a midshipman. But among the things I learned about leadership is that a leader should be humble, not haughty. A leader should say do as I do, not do as I say. Leaders should have the heart of a servant, and we should come here with the idea of serving. The Scriptures we read say: He who would be a leader must be a servant to all; he who would be first should be a slave to all.

A leader should have the courage to stay out of step when everybody else is marching to the wrong tune. A leader shouldn't ask what is the easy thing to do, the speedy thing to do; they should ask what is the right thing to do. And a leader, as has already been said, a leader should ask the question asked of a rabbi some 2,000 years ago. A rabbi was asked: What is the most important commandment of all? He mentioned what one was, and then he said the second one is love our neighbors as ourselves. I think that is the most important one of all. Leaders are like that. Leaders are like that.

I just wish to say that I think my friend, ``Hey, man,'' also known as Senator Mark Pryor, personifies that kind of leader. God knows we need more of them. He has demonstrated by his own character and behavior what he believes.

I am tempted to say we are going to miss him, but we are still going to see a lot of him. In the Navy, when somebody has done a great job, we say two words: Bravo Zulu--Bravo Zulu. So I say that to my friend.

We also have this admonition. The Navy has the tradition of hailing farewell on a ship or submarine or aircraft carrier, whatever squadron you are on. When people come in, we have an event called a hail and farewell party. When it is over, for those who are leaving, we say: Farewell and a following sea.

So I would say this: Farewell and a following sea, and we will see much more of you in the future.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). The Senator from Alabama.

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I thank Senator Carper for those good remarks, and I think they reflect the quality and the character Mark Pryor has displayed as a Member of this Senate.

I have been asked: Who are some of your favorite people across the aisle, Democratic people whom you respect and like? Mark Pryor has always been at the top of that list.

We have both served as attorneys general of our States. We have a number of things to talk about. I have been able to commiserate with him over Arkansas football in recent years. We kind of keep up with those things a lot.

I just would wish to say something that I basically said at the National Prayer Breakfast several years ago. Senator Pryor and I were cochairmen, and I was able to say, with great confidence, that Mark Pryor is one of the best people I have ever served with in the Senate. He is a man of faith and integrity, and his ego is under control--not always so around this place, and it makes it run better. He is collegial, willing to work with people across the aisle, work within his own party, and not one who has had difficulty making decisions. He has done what he thought was right year after year here in this great Senate.

We had the opportunity to lead the Senate Prayer Breakfast and then the National Prayer Breakfast twice, and it was a special time. Mark really did a great job and spent a great deal of time meeting with people from all over the world. I think the depth of his faith is quite obvious.

To Mark I wish to say that you are special to me. Your service in the Senate has been very special. You have always done what you thought was right for your State and done so in a way that is so pleasant and collegial to work with. I know you will have some great adventures ahead. It looks even like the Razorbacks are coming back. They may give Alabama and Auburn a real hard time next year--who knows. Hope springs eternal. They did pretty well at the end of this year, I have to say. A monster may be arising in Arkansas--who knows.

We do have a great Senate, with less than 2,000 people having served in this body. We have people of talent and ability throughout, but there are people over the period of years that touch you as the genuine article, people whom you respect and admire, and, Mark, you are one of those. God bless you and Godspeed.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

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