Senate Proceeding on Jan 15th, 2009 :: 1:17:30 to 1:28:40
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1:17:27 to 1:17:47( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: things senators want to say about senator biden and senator clinton. we have a vote noon, but i would like to ask the order to recognize the senator from new york, senator clinton. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mrs. clinton: thank you very much, mr. president. i am so honored to be here at the same time wit my friend and a colleague whom

1:17:30 to 1:28:40( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Hillary Clinton

1:17:48 to 1:18:09( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: much and have such great affection for, the vice president-elect, joe biden. i listened with great enthusiasm and a lot of sentiment to the speech that he delivered just a few minutes ago. and the way he evoked the senate

1:18:10 to 1:18:31( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and the developed here and the work that is done on behalf of our country was as g and so i am deeply honored and privileged to be here with him and to address this chamber as a senator from the great staeuft

1:18:32 to 1:18:53( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: new york. perhaps if i am -- from the great state of new york, perhaps if i am confirmed for the very last taoeufplt and -- last time. and particularly fromolleagues who i have come to respect and like so much and whose work i believe is always in the best interest of their states and

1:18:54 to 1:19:14( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: their country, even when we are not in agreement. i'm gratified by the support and vote of confidence i received earlier this morning from senate foreign relations committee, and i am eager, should i be confirmed, to get to work with the president-elect and with the vice

1:19:15 to 1:19:36( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: president-elect and with all of you. i have loved being in the senate. working alongside public servants of both parties who bring their expertise and enthusiasm to the difficult, painstaking and occasionally contentious work of turning principles into policy and policy into law.

1:19:37 to 1:19:57( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: i also have been fortunate during these past eight years to have been served by what i objectively believe is the best senate staff ever. in washington and throughout new york. this incredible group of people

1:19:58 to 1:20:18( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: have bn assembled, led and inspired by my chief of staff and my friend tamra lesato. mr. president, i would like to submit for the record the names of all those with whom i have worked over the last eight years, because i could not be standing her speaking to you

1:20:19 to 1:20:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: were it not for them. and i will also submit to the record a catalog of the work and achievements which they have brought about. you know, if the "federalist papers", we often hear the reference to the senate's role to avert the consequences of sudden and

1:20:41 to 1:21:01( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: violent passions and intemperate and pernicious resolutions. well, to the everlasting credit and wisdom of our founders, we do come together in an effort to find common ground. and as i look back on my eight

1:21:02 to 1:21:22( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: years of service, i find mysf reflecting on this tiny piece of senate and american history. ten years ago, i asked the people of new york to take a chance on me, to grant me their trust and their votes. and in the years since as our economy has grown more interconnected and the world

1:21:23 to 1:21:45( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: more interdependent, i he worked to keep faith with my fellow new yorkers. i well rember when i first arrived in the senate, there are a few skeptics wondering what i would do and how i would do it, and there are stalwart supporters and guides like my great friend, senator barbara mi

1:21:46 to 1:22:06( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: the rules of the road and set me on my way. no sooner had i figured out the way around the senate, actually had just moved into my office, which all of our new colleagues will eventually be able to enjoy, and h gone off on my

1:22:07 to 1:22:28( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: first august recess, i never when ias on the other end of pennsylvania avenue, understood why the senate went all the time. but after the intenseity of the workload and the extraordinary pressure of both the work here in washington and the constituency work in our

1:22:29 to 1:22:51( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: states, i was thrilled and relieved to see that august recess roll around. shortly after we returned in 2001, our nation was attacked on 9/11. the toll was devastating, and new york bore the heaviest burden.

1:22:52 to 1:23:17( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: here i was, a really new senator, and my city and my state had been devastated. nearly 3,000 lives lost, the world trade center in ruins, a toxic cloud of debris and poison raing down over our first responders and others.

1:23:18 to 1:23:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: i well rember the rallying of support and sense of common purpose that all of my colleagues and the citizens of all the states represented here showed toward me personally and toward new york. many of you offered not only

1:23:41 to 1:24:04( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: kind words, but specific deeds. senators sent staff members to help answer the ringing phones in our office as new yorkers struggled to track down family members or to seek aid. i will never forget senator robert byrd telling me at my state's hour of need, "think of

1:24:05 to 1:24:28( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: me as the third senator from new york." on september 12, my colleague chuck schumer and i went to new york. as you recall, the roads were shut down. there was no way in or out of manhattan other than by rail. the skies were clear.

1:24:29 to 1:24:52( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: so chuck and proved by fema, were the only ones in the sky that day other than the fighters who were circling ahead. we landed at laguardia, and we got into a helicopter to fly to the heliport on the west side of manhattan on the hudson river.

1:24:53 to 1:25:14( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and then we proceed with the governor, the mayor, federal officials to go toward the horror. when we were circling in the helicopter above the world trade center site, we could see the

1:25:15 to 1:25:37( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: smoke still coming up, because it was, of course, and we could see the very fragile piles of scrap and steel tottering as firefighters and construction workers tried to

1:25:38 to 1:26:00( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: continue their search-and-rescue efforts. that site was as close as i have ever seen to what dante describes as hell. it became known as "the pile." chuck and i and our government colleagues walked along one of the streets and couldot even

1:26:01 to 1:26:22( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: see beyond the curtain of blackness, and occasionally breaking through would come a firefighter, totally exhausted after having been on duty for 24 hours, dragging an ax, knowing already that friends and even family members had been lost.

1:26:23 to 1:26:43( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: the air was acrid. the thick smoke made it hard to breathe. it burned your throat and your lungs. and i knew then there would be lasting health problems for anyone who was exposed over any period of time to that air that carried so much death a destruction. two days later sator schumer and i went to the oval office

1:26:44 to 1:27:05( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and secured a commitment from president bush for 0 billion in federal aid for new york's recovery. in the years that would follow, he and i have stood side by side to fight tpaor the successful -- for the successful delivery of that money as promised. and in this and every instance, i am very grateful to have had

1:27:06 to 1:27:27( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: senator schumer as my partner and my ally. no one fights harder or is more determined. and even tho senate and we will no longer serve together, i know that whenever i'm missing chuck, all i have to do is turn on the television, especially on sunday

1:27:28 to 1:27:49( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: in new york. er the past seven years, thanks to so many of you, senator inouye, senator cochran and others on the appropriations committee -- i see senator harkin, senator murray -- you have been there with us as we have worked to recover. and i'm very proud of the progress that has been made bringing new york back and

1:27:50 to 1:28:12( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: securing funding for the essential programs to provide health screening and monitoring and trement for all those who still are suffering. i've developed close and lasting relationships with many of the victims and the families of the victims of 9/11, and i applaud and thank them for their courage

1:28:13 to 1:28:34( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: and their fortitude in not only fighting for the health benefits that were so desperately needed, but for the creation of the 9/11 commission, for trying to do better on threat aessments, more resources for first responders. committed, despite their grief, to smarter policies to prevent

1:28:35 to 1:28:40( Edit History Discussion )

Hillary Clinton: future attacks on our nation. i see what we did together and