adjourned quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, this is a sad time for the senate and our nation. with the passing of john mccain, our country lost a legend and the senate has lost a towering figure. i've lost a friend. america owes john mccain, his family our gratitude and respect for his courage and sacrifice and for the trials he endured to serve the nation that he loved. john came into this world with big shoes to fill. his father and grandfather were four-star admirals in the united

states navy. john mccain met and exceeded his family legacy. i first met him 35 years ago. in 1982, we were brand-new freshmen congressmen elected to the u.s. house. i spotted him on the other side of the floor in the senate and of course knew instantly who he was and worked up the courage to go over and introduce myself. and then i asked him a favor. i said john, would you consider doing a cable tv show that i could send back to my central illinois district? he said sure, i would be glad to. i thought that's amazing. a democratic congressman asking a new republican congressman to help him back in his district, and john mccain said yes. it was the beginning of a >> to help him back in hisfrie district and john mccain said yes.ndship.entral i it was the beginning of a friendship. i i i still remember and i still. was think john for his act of kindness. ique it was my first exposure to the unique style of communication

america would know as the straight breath sitting back interview was the biggest actn for which i am still grateful there is a joke about he says in this a private fight work anyone get into it? i think his name may have been r making. everybody knew. everybody knew her served with him for any period of timeiod ct remember. i remember him walking up to me getting within an inch of my face chewing me out about the article he had read in the chicago tribuneed aroun. he was so mad he was about to explode and he walked away and i said what did i say? i cannot remember the article. and id back erredreferred to and i could not understand his lo anger i have been friends for se long to get ready for the round

is that it wasn't that bad after all we are still friends. a typical john mccain a volcanic temper but a loving approach it c liefs. passionate belief.h le this that was john. but doesn't hold grudges understanding to people -- disagree on issues but stillbe c work together tomoarrrow and disagree today. if you he you invite someone attribute your life that yes several times a trip over the tt weekend is something you don't't forget. john mccain the senators were sitting by drinking drinks with paper umbrellas they have. his trips on the weekend weree t more like death marches the minute you got on the plane it r was a nonstop schedule. everything had to be done we had to see three countries, not to

get done and get back to washington and learned so much and walking the street of green people coming to john remember that showed up when the revolution was underway and spoke for those who were definen come up moscow. hlo and they they still remember john mccain in way to say thank youhb that way and somebody there to o be a part a part of it in the or history and count him as a one friend. a friend. at the there was one solid year where we are just barely year, spoke e ndck here i found an excuse to a walk over to his office he greeted me and i'm glad it'sond

over so i was one of the happier days i i served in the cvi partt at my lesson family.hem he came to even more during the five and a half toward solitar e he fed a prisoner for a little annoyed. we are stronger together.s a prisoner of war he refused and because he what the what the goals are. hat cel what make you will not bodynal

paid.so notner o by the more i love they about 40 cap feet.or six i should've on my my time. i was there for six weeks. you were there either. hegh replied oh no. go right. the first six weeks were the toughest. he knew that laughter helped to make the unbearable parable and like president lincoln was secure own in his reputation and achievement to be modest he sert

endured more than many served in the senate as many. he leaves his mark on this bodyd and nation. bndaries to be front and center for the american people we were trying to decide the boundaries for this democracy faced with the threat of terrorism one voice in the senate was credible and it was john mccain.n i've made beach after speech on the subject when he got up and spoke torture there was silencen on the floor of the senate as we listen carefully he proposed a resolution establishing with humane standards of treatment to realizing the humanity we show toward prisoners showed toward was ena smmunity -- is the same humanity if americans were taken prisoner. more a strong bipartisan roll calld resulted if anything he was a a

champion of united states military men and women who served in the armed forces andln the nation's h veterans never hd a leader in thecurb the fight tr the special interests of politics to make a government be and then for the people with rust feingold and john mccain pi they moved us toward what america was longing for putting special interest behind us and acro the ending soft-money. he treasured our heritage as a nation of immigrants i have such respect for john mccain's f efforts to reach across the aisle to find solutions for the broken immigration system. him, even as his own party railed against him we spent almost ones year together eight senators and four democrats to write a senat comprehensive immigration a comprehensive immigration reform bill one of the proudest ran mol and why i ran for i ran for the

senate and what john mccain tol. us over and over was to be our mission in life as senators so the problems facing america take some heat in he took a lot of heat as republicans stepped up and offered a real submission tt our comprehensive immigration challenge. we put together a bill over the course of the year was an, extraordinary effort. we. we all had to compromise i ended compromise but it was a bipartisan bill a bipartisan bill that passed overwhelmingly on the floor of the senate there hasn't been anotherim moment lie and heook here. not he took a lot of grief for it that all numbers were not that good especially among the most conservative of republicans but he knew we had a problem toroup solve he stepped up and did it and i was honored to be part of the small group working night after night and week after week put the effort together.

of course what i remember i remember now more than anything is the middle of the night phont he w ago he walkedl ofhe through that door after just and heo trump he came to the well of the senate stood right next to the table because he had limited motion in his arm because of torture in plane crash in vietnam he barely lifted his right hi arm pushes him down and he said no.ushes him down and he americ he preserved health insurance for millions of americans and f invoked the ire of conservative republicans who will never forgive him for that moment. it. it was one of the proudest and most courageous moment in the history of the senate. i was beere honored to be here n have a chance a chance to thank him personally that night. tha i also i also remember when you came to the floor speak andce.

remind us all of us why we ran for this great t office sure tof title like senator but it isch much more not only in honor but a challenge for us to do something with this title to solve the problems that face this country i didn't always agree with john but i always respected the fact you wanted the senate to be an institution serving the people in this country and solving problems that we face. john was principled and when we courageous there were times when we had differences and i can agt recall when he came to illinois a campaigning on behalf of a state enesid john supporter for president he

returned the favor by campaigning against me.chn you might wonder in this world politics how you react a person who to a person who is trying to take your job awaydoing. but i mcca, john jim was loyal to each other ople o fromhat people decided i should be the senator didn't deter him one bie senator didn't deter him one bit for working with me from that point forward there is an emptyb space in america without his spirit. endor he will be missed but certainly never forgotten. the i endorse the proposal to renamr the russell senate office a building in honor of lieutenante commander senator john mccain. d skhope decades from now childrea or visitors to the capitol grounds will ask who was our

mr. mccain the named building after they will discover he was a man r eswpeorctthy, of our rei amman in is part of a servant and a man who was an american euro. i yield the floor . . . . was complicit. but demand prime time on

c-span2. in her book, "rescue board," rebecca erbelding writes about the state department created in 1944 that worked to save european jews. she talked about the u.s. response to the holocaust an event in washington. this is just under an hour. >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you for coming. my name is bennard fajardo and i'm a bookseller here at politics & prose. on behalf of the staff would like to welcome all of you to this afternoon's event. as you may all ready know at politics & prose rehost hundreds of events like this all throughout the year. one such event, the one we are doing next saturday, may 12, for edge