There are few people in washington, d. C. , and in america had the impact of senator Johnny Isakson. Think of senator isakson, no question, there are come to our s that mind. Senator, you are, you have been incredible statesman, a phenomenal leader, both in here in the United States senate, and in our country. Thank you t to say for all that you have done for us. First personally when i came to congress, you were one of the first individuals to and to give me advice and encouragement and to day, every time i see you, you do that. And you will never know how much means. I just want to publicly state isakson, senator isakson, is a hero for people country. S this your brilliant mind and your leadership will always be here. We say thank you from the bottom our heart. May god bless you and your family as you go into this next chapter. You. I yield back. Mr. Scott madam speaker, rise my colleagues and i to honor the legislative legacy and the life of my good friend and fellow georgia bulldog, u. S. Senator Johnny Isakson. 20 years, senator isakson have served the people of georgia and the United States congress. Tirelessly fighting for the people of georgia. Uring his tenure, senator isakson has been a bell weather for many in our belweather, many in our delegation and for a United States senator. It a eard it once i heard thousand times, wheres johnny on this . What does johnny think about this . Johnny on oken to this . E has offered counsel thats been learned through his 40 years of Public Service that is me and many of us in the georgia delegation and this nation. I have many personal stories about johnny. Some of them appropriate for the floor. Of them not. My first recollection with a call i maden is a friendager, i needed the ballot through box. Enator isakson picked up the phone. He said, i am not quite sure who spoke to senator isakson but way the next vote is going to go. Took. As all it over the tell you 30 years how much you meant to my family. Forward a sense of bipartisanship and working across the aisle for the good of all georgians. Hes played a key role in maintaining his reputation. I look forward to that special radition continuing in the coming legislative sessions. Public service is much more than service of the member. Its also the service of the family. Isakson, your children, your wonderful wife, diane, we extend our thanks for their to serve georgia and support our delegation and members. Legation their impact cannot be understated, and we look forward o you enjoying more time with diane and your entire family as you enter your next chapter. Decades, senator isakson and his family have faithfully served our state. Godliness and statesmanship will be greatly missed in it washington, d. C. Is faithful service to the great state of georgia is second mascot. Our beloved hes a giant among men and dogs, dedicated and deliberate, and its been an honor to work alongside him fighting for the people of georgia and the veterans of the United States of america. With that, i yield to my colleague and my fellow georgian, mr. Lewis. Mr. Lewis madam speaker, i thank my beloved for ague and my friend yielding. I would like to thank our mr. Scott, for rganizing this special order tribute to a great man, a being. Ul human le madam speaker madam speaker, i rise to recognize isakson, a son of georgia. Enator isakson is a special man, he is a goodman. I want to thank him for his in the Georgia State legislature and in the house of tes representatives and now in the United States senate. 25, 1999, i introduced johnny as the newest georgia the congressional delegation to the house of representatives. To congress as a graduate of the university of and a successful businessman. Before coming to congress, he a member of the national guard, the state House Minority leader, a and as the chair of the state board of education. Day, i said, he brought him. Lth of knowledge with colleagues to our that in his decades of Public Service in our home state, delivered a reputation, reputation as at a bridge builder, a man who has beliefs but also willing to work with others to get things done. Very quickly, members of the discover how te true this was. He senator does not make a lot f noise but he has the ability to the power, the capacity power. O we always found a way to come together, and we continued that was elected tohe the senate. Over the years, we worked issues, on many, many like transportation, water, veteran affairs. We always found a way to get good work o do the the people deserve. And time and time again, he us. Od up with uplift d with us to africanamericans in the state of georgia, to recognize martin als like dr. Luther king jr. And jackie robinson, native of georgia. Talk the talk. He literally walked the walk. Senator, you not only reauthorized the Voting Rights 2006, but a few years later, even coled the to ressional delegation selma, alabama. I want to say thank you for all and great work. Will of us who know you agree that you are always mindful, a warm and welcome gentleman in the truest sense of the word. Decades, you, senator, cross the that could aisle without compromising your values. Our constituents came over and your ing with you felt heard and respected. Hope you do not mind, but i would like to share a moment out for me and will always stand out for me as long as i live. To have very day. One morning before i was scheduled to read the 13th house floor, he you asked me to come and speak your staff about service and my own experiences. We had an honest and thoughtful discussion. It was one of my most meaningful experiences in my years in congress. I carry in my heart to this very day, this very moment, what you said. Years have passed since i stood on the very floor to introduce you to congress. As you to return private life with your beloved years have wi diane, of 51 years, and your wonderful, beautiful children and grandchildren, i would like to thank you, johnny, for your your f service, for service to our state, our nation. Wish you health and happiness a take some time to enjoy beautiful and wonderful life in he state of georgia. You have been very good to the people of the state of georgia. I am blessed to call you a friend and brother. Thank you so much. Mr. Speaker, it is almost difficult to yield back the time when i speak of this good and great leader in the state of georgia. Thank you, brother, for your service. I will come over to meet you, brother. Madam speaker, i wish all of america could be here to see that. Two icons from georgia embracing. What a wonderful sight that i think is representative of the days of the past and the days to come. And how we should Work Together. Thank you. Thank you both so much. So much for not just for what you do but who you are. Madam speaker, i now yield to my colleague, mr. Graves. Mr. Graves i thank representative scott for coordinating this hour of tribute to a dear, dear friend and how humbling it is to follow my good friend, representative lewis, who swore me in just the same, johnny, just over nine years ago right here in the same spot. We could take more than an hour this would certainly take more than an hour and i know this is a georgia delegation moment but senator, i am certain that if the house would allow that member after member from state after state would come down here and pay tribute the same as we are today. But as members, you know, we get up each and every day, we work hard to make sure our constituents have a great place to live and provide for their families. Its not often that we have the opportunity to share about the impact that a Single Person might have made on our very own lives. So today is one of those rare occasions for me, and i get to do that today through the recognition of one of georgias giants. And im going to do this today, senator, take the opportunity to share of our first interaction, my first introduction, my first introduction to senator isakson. It was november 6, 1990. I was just your average 20yearold College Student. I was apolitical. I was just looking for a free meal that night. I was an idealist. Very open minded. And i was invited that night by my roommate to attend a political gathering my roommate just happened to be the son of freddie stevens. Stevenson. Who is a dear friend of ours, senator. And that was my very First Political event ever that i had attended. It happened to be the Gubernatorial Election night celebration, or at least thats what i anticipated that night. I remember that evening as if it was yesterday, i know you can as well, as can so many others. Now the north georgia country boy irk didnt grow up in wealth or politics, i just worked hard every day just trying to get through each and every day. But that night, i was impacted. There was a lot of energy, there was excitement in the room and thats infectious, i know it is. But thats not what it was that night. I was impacted more so than anything by a Single Person. A person i didnt even know yet. A person that i would soon get to know very well,ment of the you might suggest i was prims impressed by his resume hurricanes history what all he had done. After all, we gloss over what has been accomplished but hes served in the Georgia Air National guard, he was 14 years in the Georgia House as a minority leader, he was cochair of a president ial campaign, president of one of the Largest Real Estate Companies in the country and yes, its been mentioned, he was a georgia bulldog, all that by 1990. Thats impressive but thats not what captured me that night. I was totally unaware of all those things. Nor could it have been his future because none of us knew. None of us knew what that height be yet, that was so many years ago. The fact that he would one day run and be elected to the state senate that he would be a candidate for u. S. Senate in 1996, that he would head the state school board, be elected to the u. S. House in 1999, sworn in by the great john lewis, and then fife years later elected to the United States senate as our senior senator. That was something so much more, johnny. Something more, there was so much more than that senator, that we had yet to know. It was more than your resume. It was more than your title. It was more than what you were going to accomplish that stirred me or stirred any individual. It was on that night in 1990 where a man i had never met with a name i certainly couldnt pronounce with a history that i didnt know or a a future yet untold, he caught my attention my first true interasting, my first impact by a political figure in my life was that night in 1990. When the results were not what they had hoped for or what the senator had hoped for at the time or what they had worked for and yet they were in a room of friends and supporters and had to address them that night. Now if you were an onlooker like me, a 20yearold College Student what do you expect . You expect maybe theres going to be bitterness. Theres going to be regret, some blaming, some dweistness, sounds so familiar certainly today. But it was different. Instead, Johnny Isakson took the stage with grace, with respect, with digmyity, with vision, and with a confidence that i never expected in a person. And whether he knew it that night at that time, the he chose to impact and he chose to inspire and he chose to inspire me. I know the story is not unique to me. I know its not. 45 years of stories like that, senator. I just happen to be one. He was paying forward before it was even a thing to do. And now 29 years later i can stand before each of you, i stand before you as one who served in the Georgia House for 7 1 2 years and now on my 10th year here in congress, a future still yet untold. I get to stand before you, senator and say thank you. Thank you. Thank you, senator, isakson, thank you for caring, thank you for being an example of what is needed so much today. Its with deep gratitude that i get to pay tribute in your farewell. To the one who might have lost an election in 1990 but won the trust of a 20yearold College Student that night. A true fighter for georgia. Great statesman. A dear friend. Thank you. Thank you so much. May god bless you in the days ahead. Thank you. Mr. Scott thank you, mr. Graves. I now yield to my friend and colleague, mr. Bishop. Mr. Bishop i thank the gentleman for yielding and i thank my colleagues for this special order, paying tribute to a good and great man. Winston churchill once said, you make your living by what you get. You make your life by what you give. My friend, Johnny Isakson, has given so much to so many for so life. E has truly made a Johnny Isakson has been a true statesman in his remarkable career as a Public Servant for georgians. I first met johnny in 1977 where we served together in the georgia general assembly. We developed a friendship which has endured through our Work Together in the state house, the u. S. House of representatives, and during his service as our georgia senator. Throughout his career hes not viewed issues from a partisan perspective. But from the good of all americans. Johnny served as a republican in both chambers of georgias state legislature but he was appointed by georgias democratic governor, zell miller, to be chairman of the Georgia State board of education. His integrity, his kindness, are invaluable qualities in a legislator and have no doubt been a defining measure of his success. Am honored to call johnny my friend. We will miss him in the delegation. His loss will be felt deeply. But we can all agree that he is very much deserving of a happy retirement spent with his wife diane and their children and grandchildren and we wish you the best, johnny. The poet said, isnt it strange in clouds and kings of paper and saw dust rings, and ommon people like you and me must build and make each stone a stumble block or steppingstone. People in georgia and across the world are so blessed that you have used your life and your career not as a stumbling block but as a steppingstone for a higher, better quality of life for humankind. Thank you and god bless you. Mr. Scott thank you, mr. Bishop, i want to thank mr. Isakson as well for his roled on the Veterans Affairs committee. He served our military veterans faithfully for many, many years and i want to yield the floor now to my friend and colleague, mr. Collins, one of the men who serves nuss multiple capacities both in the air force and as a member of congress. Mr. Collins thank you, i appreciate it. To be here, to hear just the accomplishments of senator isakson. Hes one of the people that you go along and find in life you have to know them by title or have to know them by last name. In the state of georgia, when you say johnny, Everybody Knows who youre talking about. Especially when it comes to our politics. For me, to rattle off everything thats already been said is breathtaking what you have cone and accomplished from business to career and those are things thats worthy of the page in your life. But for many of us here, just as my friends were saying earlier. Off personal attachment to many of us, whether you realize it or not. For those of us who come forward in Public Service and you need role models an mentors and hear about those who succeeded and failed and succeeded and failed which is something many of us have to get used to whether we want to or not. For me its watching you in the times when probably you didnt know you were being watched. It was a time it was the when i watched you as a young person in the state house in georgia, going to a meeting, and they recognized and said, you know, johnny is hear, would you like to say a few words . For most of us its struggling to come up with a couple of words that sound good together much less sentence bus Johnny Isakson would stand off and for five minutes would rattle off a speech you would swear had been honed for years and it touched the soul of everybody there. I was in awe and i watched you do it so many times. I was in awe and i watched you do it so many times. I listened in this business. Thats pretty impressive. Thats why you got stuff done. I remember every time id come to you and there would be times that i would be asking a question and i would go along and you would answer, you would listen and answer the question and i went away feeling better just by being with you. I remember when i talked to to you right after you announced that you were going to leave a big hole in our delegation. And the first thing you said to me when i picked the picked up the phone as you did almost every time, doug, thank you, youre doing a great job. Even when i knew that probably wasnt true. When you understand, though, what it takes to lift people up, you leave a mark. You leave a special mark. For those of us in politics who struggled, many times over the past few years, to go into groups that would call us names and not like us, even when they supposedly were on our side, i watched what you did. You would go into those groups, you would sneak . The back after the meeting started sneak in the back after the meeting started. They would see you there, they would recognize you, and you stood and you spoke, you never backed up, you never backed down. But you made a lot of converts simply by being there. For those of us in public or ce, if you showed me showed anybody anything, its being in the room, being a participant, listening to people and caring about them. Even if you disagree with them. Its the largest that we can step we can take to make sure that we have a union that matters. So from me and my house, for a profession that may have taken on who needs role models, we stand on your shoulders. You are the giant in the room. From our perspective of watching what happens. And how it happens. And when i got to washington, d. C. , i knew the one thing that i wanted to do was actually pass legislation because iferede heard you say one time becau