Delaware’s U.S. Senate race between Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Christine O’Donnell is often portrayed as a battle to take the seat previously held by Vice President Joe Biden. In fact, the man Coons or O’Donnell will replace is Senator Ted Kaufman (D), who was appointed to the seat after Biden was elected Vice President. Senator Kaufman said from day one he would not seek to keep the job in this election cycle. And since the Coon-O’Donnell race is a special election to fill the remaining four years of Biden’s term, Kaufman’s successor will be seated right after the general election November 2.
As Congress finishes its pre-Election Day business this week, Senator Kaufman took to the Senate floor one last time to make his final remarks about his short stint as U.S senator from Delaware. You can see his entire speech, which lasted just over 12 minutes, by clicking the image below.
- Sen. Kaufman delivers farewell speech on the floor of the Capitol building. Click to watch entire speech.
In his farewell address, Senator Kaufman defended the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule, saying the Senate’s role is to “make sure the fast train of the majority does not overrun the minority,” and the 60-vote filibuster rule allows the Senate to play that role.
Senator Kaufman also defended voting for the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). He says it helped stop the country’s economic free fall, joking that “if we had another hour and a half, I’d show you my charts and graphs to demonstrate it.”
He also took the opportunity to recount his efforts to champion strong financial reform legislation, calling it “critical that we perserve the credibility of our markets, one of the nation’s crown jewels.” He expressed disappointment that reform legislation did not go further, noting Congress’s failure to pass the Brown-Kaufman amendment, which addressed “too big to fail” banks.
Senator Kaufman concluded by expressing his appreciation for the Senate and his “unlikely” opportunity to serve in it. He promised to continue to speak out the issues he worked on in the Senate.
