Tribute To Senator Ken Salazar

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wanted to come out and join my good friend, the majority leader, in congratulating the Senator from Colorado upon his selection as Secretary of the Interior, but I must say I am kind of sorry to see it.

The first thing I said to Senator Salazar is, say it isn't so. I hated to see him leave the Senate. Even though he has been here a relatively short time, he has made an enormous number of friends, I think an incredible contribution to the institution and, of course, to his State as well. I think his passion for the issues the Interior Department deals with overcame what I would have hoped he would have concluded in the end was the right decision, which was to say no to the new President and stay in the Senate.

We hate to see him leave. We think he has been an extraordinarily outstanding and fine Member of this body. I wanted to join with the majority leader and say how much we appreciate his service and how much all of us look forward to continuing to work with him in the coming years in his new and important responsibility as Secretary of the Interior.

I yield the floor.

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