Chuck Schumer’s Senate Tribute to Mike Kuiken

Finally, Mr. President, I want to close my remarks with one of my least favorite words, but one which I say with immense gratitude: Farewell.

I am sad, grateful, verklempt, happy, moved—all of the above—to pay tribute this morning to one of the best staffers I have ever had, Mike Kuiken, my national security adviser for over 5 years.

He has been an invaluable adviser, an extremely gifted thinker, and a straight shooter for all the years he has been part of my team. I want to say thank you.

Members from around the Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, have come to rely on his knowledge and his judgment. And, in many ways, he has made the world a better and safer place—made America a better and safer place—by his dedication to this field, to intelligence, and to the military. He has done a great job.

I will so badly miss him. But like when many of my staffers leave when they are going on to bigger and better things, I rejoice, as well. So it is with mixed emotions that I say goodbye to Mike, and an enormous thank you from me, the people of New York, and the people of America for being so strong and firm in protecting America's interests with balance, with care, with intelligence.

Mike leaves the Senate with a legacy he can truly be proud of. If he did nothing else in his life, he can rest assured—he will do plenty more, I know—but he can rest assured that he has been a great, great contributor to this society. He has been on the forefront of every major national security event America has experienced in two decades.

He joined Carl Levin's staff a few months before 9/11 and played a hand in legislation protecting our troops during deployment in the Middle East, expanding sanctions against Iran, responding to the Arab Spring, strengthening counterterrorism efforts, resisting Russian interference in the 2016 elections, outcompeting the Chinese Government, and so much more. Whether in a war zone or inside the SCIF, where he spends a lot of time learning all about classified information, he has been invaluable.

Without Mike, I can say we would never have gotten the Chips and Science Act done. He—with several other of my staffers—was there shepherding this bill, all the way back to the days when I first called it the Endless Frontier Act.

Without Mike, we wouldn't have gotten the NDAA done for so many years. Without Mike, we would be nowhere in preparing for the future of AI in the sphere of national security.

So, for sure, as I said, he can be really proud of what he has done. […]

Mike, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you so much, and my best wishes on the road ahead. You will always have a place here in the Senate and in what we call the “Schumer family.” You are part of our family and always will be. […]

I yield the floor.