Monday, December 17, 2012

News that affects the U.S. Senate

U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye died less than 30 minutes ago at Walter Reed Hospital.  He was one of Hawaii's Senators and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his uniformed service to our nation during World War II.

This is the 5-minute video announcement of his death, made on the floor of the U.S. Senate, by Nevada Senator and Majority Leader Harry Reid.

U.S.A. Today article

One sentence from the article:
Under Hawaii law, Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie will appoint a successor to Inouye until a special election can be held.

Senator Inouye was a Democrat.  If the new Senator is a Democrat, then the Democrat-Republican balance will stay the same, but if the new Senator is a Republican, then the GOP will have a bit more power when legislation is being debated and voted upon.

The winner of the special election will be in a position to affect a lot of legislation. He/she will also participate in confirmation of any U.S. Supreme Court nominees.  Until that election has been decided, the temporary Senator will have that job, and that person will also have the extra responsibility of working on the end-of-year legislation, including Fiscal Cliff tax patches and the establishment of 2013 tax rates (which still haven't been decided yet).

This video link shows him addressing Congress on December 3, 2011 (just over a year ago).  His topic was about the service that he and others like him had provided to this nation during World War II.

This video link shows him addressing Congress on May 26, 2010.  On that date, he said that we should support our uniformed military men and women, not cut their funding. 

This video link shows him talking candidly about the combat actions that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor.

This web page includes a photo of Senator Inouye receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton in June 2000. 

This Dept. of Defense web page has a photo of seven recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, including Danial Inouye.  The page also allows you to download a high-resolution photo of the group.

This web page discusses in detail the combat actions that 1st lieutenant Daniel Inouye took that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor.  This page is hosted by a Veteran's Club in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Scroll down about a third of the way to see the written description and a black-and-white photo of his face when he was a soldier.


Other tributes









His own website hasn't made the announcement, 24 hours after he died.

This is his official U.S. Senate website. There is an announcement about his death.  It wasn't mentioned on the "front page", but here it is.

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