Senators remembered former President Ronald Reagan on Thursday, a few days before his 100th birthday. Members of both parties spoke during a two-hour tribute.
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said, “I hope we can embody his spirit of bipartisanship to keep our country strong and united today.”
Feinstein called Reagan “thoughtful and visionary” and praised him for wanting to “one day eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.”
Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin echoed the same sentiments, saying, “I admired his optimism and his unshakable faith that America’s best days were ahead of us. He restored a sense of confidence in many Americans at a time when we sorely needed it.”
Durbin said, “Ronald Reagan was a man who believed deeply in his core principles. He would not want any of us to compromise our own core principles in his memory.”
Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison rattled off a few of her favorite Reagan accomplishments. “He reduced government regulation. He ended the practice of wage and price controls. He passed tax cuts for all Americans. He famously noted that government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives,” said Hutchison.
Connecticut Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, said, “The optimism, moral clarity and confidence that President Reagan radiated inspired a generation, and they are precisely the ideals that we need today.”