so after squeaking a close primary victory over his now fellow senator from wyoming, tom barrasso, mike packed his bags for washington in late 1996 at that time it's only trade accountant. and mike knew that if he was going toproperly serve , he'd working alongside him. people who shared his no-nonsense perspective for careful planning and thrift in government. one of his best decisions was persuading a longtime collaborator, a one-time town manager flip mcconnaughhay to move to washington and be his chief of staff. mike says he initially had 500 applications for that job but none of them were the one he wanted. the experience salesman had to pitch his longtime friend on the opening and itworked . from gillette to the senate was mike's secret weapon not only as a staff or a true e partner in service for many years. when flip passed away w, this entire institution felt the loss. mike's staff likes to say he has a whole collection of useful anecdotes to approach that business, from the perspective of a mayor or a small business owner or a state legislator or an accountant, or a wyoming he

barrasso: thank you, madam president. a little reflection on tom udall and the work we did together on the indian affairs committee as i chaired and he was the ranking member. i will tell you, madam president, i will miss my friend, tom udall. bobbi and i will miss your life partner jill as well. we're so grateful for your friendship and your leadership in this body. when you started today on the floor, you mentioned that you were son of the west and mentioned that it's something that runs in the family. because, madam president, tom's father stuart udall was secretary of the interior of the united states. if you go to the interior department office, you will see it is the udall name on the building because of this ongoing commitment and love that the senator has spoken about today. what many don't know is the relationship between wyoming and the udall family because it was stuart udall, secretary of interior, who came to wyoming with a young president a number of years ago, and that president was john f. kennedy. it was

pushed very hard for this bill, member tom carper collaboration. this builds on the success of as i said, hich, passed the house of representatives earlier this unanimously. it authorizes construction of 46 reports by the chief of the corps of engineers. number of chief reports. surpassing in 2016 and 2018. by the be made possible ull utilization of the hashon maintenance and trust fund. since -- harbor maintenance and trust fund. we have added tax on the value of goods in containers flowing the ports in the united states of america. pressing despite the need to dredge our harbors to depths, for many years congress refused to spend that full amount of money. now around $10 billion collected in taxes from the people for a specific purpose for which it has not spent. i started working on this with but bud er, not bill, 1996 r, his dad, back in to access the full amount of the maintenance trust fund. i got out of that committee twice under chairman shuster. was quite amazed it came out unanimously. including freedom caucus members and others. ryan saw

of delaware, senator tom carper. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i have just recently been talking about a number of pieces of legislation that have come through the environment and public works committee, the water resources act, the use it act, the act called deera to eliminate and reduce emissions from diesels, as well as additional legislation on h.f.c.'s. my partner in all of those is here on the floor now. i would just like to ask him, if he wouldn't mind, since he has been such a great partner for the last four years that i chaired the committee, to talk about this as an accomplishment for the environment, for the committee, and for the senate and for the country. so i am just kind of curious from your standpoint where you see things as a sign of success. mr. carper: if my colleague will yield. before the senate leaves, i think your point about the longest night and every day that follows will be brighter. some of the provisions that senator barrasso and i alon