Mr. BENNETT. Madam President, I am pleased to join with my colleagues in making some comments about our former colleague, Norm Coleman. I welcome Senator Franken to the Senate. I welcome him to his service here and congratulate him on his victory. But it would come as no surprise that Senator Coleman will be sadly missed.
I had the experience of serving with him on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee where he served as the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation. This is a subcommittee that has an interesting history. It has the history of some demagoguery if you go back into the past. It also has a history of some accomplishment of the various Senators who have served there. I [Page: S7282] think it unusual that a freshman Senator would serve in that capacity and serve as if he were not a freshman but a seasoned veteran. He took over that assignment and went after a number of areas of controversy, and with a persistence that served him and the Senate very well, pursued a number of difficulties.
So with all of the things we have heard about Norm Coleman--his intelligence, his grace, his willingness to work hard and at the same time do so with a sense of class about him--I add my tribute to his ability to take on a difficult assignment and follow it through.
I wish him and his wife and his family well in their activities now. I will not go through the resume the Republican leader has established for us. I simply add my voice of gratitude for the opportunity of serving with Norm Coleman and my best wishes for him in his future activities. He is a young and vigorous enough man that I think we will hear far more from him in the years ahead.
I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
