Senator Collins Receives Prestigious Bryce Harlow Award

Senator Joe Manchin, her longtime friend and former colleague, presented her with the award, saying: "She doesn't work for any president; she doesn't work for any majority leader or minority leader. She doesn't work for anybody but her oath of office and the people of Maine."

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, received the Bryce Harlow Award. According to the Bryce Harlow Foundation, this award is given to a public official who, "by fostering an understanding, trust, respect, and cooperation between the business and government sectors, has benefited the country as a whole through sound public policy." Former winners of the Bryce Harlow Award include Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Representative James Clyburn (D-SC-06), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). At the award ceremony, Senator Collins delivered remarks and was introduced by former Senator Joe Manchin. See below for video and highlights of their remarks.

Click HERE to watch and HERE to download video of Senator Manchin's full remarks.

Click HERE for a full-resolution image.

Senator Manchin: It's hard to make friends in Washington, as far as in the Senate… So, you have to work at it. Well, with Susan, you don't have to work at it. She's there. She's ready. She's ready to engage. And I can tell you, when I first got there in November 2010, the first person I'm looking up, I wanted to find people that were bipartisan, that wanted to get things done, to put country before party. It didn't matter whether you're a Democrat or Republican, be an American, do the right thing… So, when I found a person with the integrity, with the commitment to service, coming from a small state like my state, understanding her people so well, I just gravitated [to her]. We became the best of friends from day one, and we've been the best of friends ever since, her and Tom, just a wonderful human being…every time there became a challenge in the Senate, her and I would always say, okay, how can we get something together.

[…]

I have been blessed to be able to see what a true, committed person who is a patriot, who loves her country more than her party, who loves her citizens more than anything, who basically takes the oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution. She doesn't work for any president; she doesn't work for any majority leader or minority leader. She doesn't work for anybody but her oath of office, her faith of office, and basically the people of Maine, and when you have that, you have someone there for the right reason.

[...]

And I will say this, if you lose a Susan Collins in the United States Senate, you've lost the soul of America, what it's all about, and I mean that with my heart, I believe that.

Click HERE to watch and HERE to download video of Senator Collins's full remarks.

Click HERE for a full-resolution image.

Senator Collins: I began tonight by mentioning my close friendship and relationship with Joe Manchin… Joe, as I mentioned, is someone with whom I have always worked closely to stand against the destructive trend of hyper partisanship…I think this is critically important to the future of our country. The problems we face today will not be solved by partisan divisiveness that created them. The forces of polarization are so strong and entrenched. Organizations on the far-left and the far-right demand that you agree with them and follow them-100% of their views, 100% of the time. They brook no search for common ground. Yet my experience has been that we get the best legislation and we achieve agreement when we listen to one another's who may not share our views. That's what produces results, it's when we search for common ground. And at our time, when our nation is increasingly divided by extremists on both the far-left and the far-right, we need more extreme moderates.

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