Thank you for your friendship. A senator mr. Chairman. The presiding officer the senator from washington. Ms. Cantwell mr. Chairman mr. President , i rise to join my colleagues on the floor today to pay tribute to my colleague in georgia, senator isakson, and to congratulate him on his retirement after 20 years in congress, including the past 15 years in the United States senate. We worked together on key provisions of the secure act to improve Retirement Planning for millions of americans on behalf of the work hes done for veterans, the veterans v. A. Mission act, important to so many people who served our country, and specifically working together on the finance committee for the last six years on important issues like Affordable Housing. Theres been no better advocate for the Affordable Housing tax credit, hoping to secure billions of dollars in funding for Affordable Housing nationwide than senator isakson. Now, it is true that my colleague senator hatch and i had a bill to help increase the Affordable Housing tax credit, but i guarantee you that theres nobody that understood it better, could explain it better, and could bring more colleagues to join us in support of it than Johnny Isakson. I was amazed at a debate in the finance committee as some of our colleagues werent quite sure of their support, but by the time Johnny Isakson was done speaking, i think they had to backtrack their opposition and wonder if they would ever take him on in a debate again. And i thank him for that because thats an issue that has complexity to it but at its heart and soul its really about providing Affordable Housing to our fellow human beings, and johnny knew that. So i have so appreciated him joining us again as we fight to get more Affordable Housing. We also have worked together on very small things. Our colleague, senator fischer, to make sure that military Service Members didnt get charged cancellation fees for tv and Internet Services when they were deployed and to work on diverse issues like mass timber innovation and funding for Community Health centers. So one thing is clear, though, when you work on all of these issues with Johnny Isakson that you realize not only is there great integrity behind the purpose of what he focuses on, great intelligence he brings to the debate, but there also is just a general kindness to his personality. You know, sometimes i think that today weve lost that kindness and ability to work across the aisle. When you read stories about our past predecessors, whether it was in a time of Scoop Jackson and warren magnuson, i kept thinking did they get along because they had to stay here. They couldnt travel all the way back to the Pacific Northwest so they bonded together. Many of them lived in rooming houses together, did all sorts of activities and got to know each other. Many times our colleagues lament that where has the senate gone. I think today we saw at lunch and many times over the hospitality of barbecue with Johnny Isakson that you dont have to be with each other on weekends or you dont have to stay here to get to know people, that the ability to communicate just a little bit of niceness, a little bit of civility, a little bit of i will work with you on this important issue is what it takes to make the senate work. So johnny, i just want to congratulate you for 20 years of service in the United States senate but more importantly, reminding us what the senate should be about, that just a few words and a few examples and a common attitude can really bring us together and mount an effort to surpass the biggest obstacles that we face because of our regions and our ideologies. And that is what we have to get back to. So as you go home to georgia, i hope that you will take our great gratitude for reminding us of all of that. And i know that you will always have a smile, a quick wit about you, something nice to say. And we will always remember you as a senator who not only got things done but made us feel like the senate again. Thank you, johnny. The presiding officer the senator from south dakota. Mr. Thune mr. President , when i learned that Johnny Isakson would be retiring at the end of the year, i was saddened. I served with johnny for a long time not just here in the senate where we were both freshman members in 2005 but in the house of representatives as well. And ive been honored to call him my friend. Its really hard for me to imagine Congress Without johnny. He is hands down, as ive said, the nicest person ever to serve in the United States senate. Hes a model of decency and graciousness, the kind of person who can fight hard every day for the principles that he believes in without ever developing any rank rancor toward his political opponents. Hes not just kind and decent. Hes also a tremendously effective legislator. Deeply knowledgeable on a whole range of issues and he possesses the gift of being able to explain complicated subjects in a very clear way. And he gets things done. He doesnt stand around talking about things or playing to the cameras. He just rolls up his sleeves and gets to work. Mr. President , he makes things happen. If there was a decency index and we were all rated on that decency index on a scale of one to ten, johnny would be the perfect ten. Anybody who knows johnny knows that he has a real passion for people. And he has a real passion for veterans. Ive had the opportunity to work with johnny on a couple of important issues. We served together on the Senate Finance committee, tax reform was something to which he brought tremendous knowledge and experience and knowhow, talked with great understanding about the complicated issues that we had to deal with when it came to reforming our tax code. His experience was invaluable as we did something that hadnt been done over 30 years. We reformed an outdated, archaic, and tax code that was keeping us noncompetitive in the global marketplace. In 2015 he became the chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee and he spent the past five years working tirelessly to increase accountability at the v. A. To improve health care for veterans and strengthen veterans benefits. Over the course of 2017 and 2018, the Veterans Affairs committee under johnny passed 25 pieces of legislation, all of which were signed into law. One of those pieces of legislation was the v. A. Mission act which was a bill that made significant reforms to the Health Care Delivery system for veterans to ensure that veterans have access to the care that they need when they need it. Mr. President , ive traveled with johnny and dianne a number of times over the years. My wife kimberly as well. But one trip that will forever stand out for me was a trip we took lead by senator burr to a number of world war i and world war ii cemeteries in europe. Of course the normandy American Cemetery, the sicily, rome American Cemetery as well as several others. We walked battlefields where american soldiers for the and bled and visited the graves of Young Americans who died on those fields. It was a profoundly moving trip, especially because we were able to visit the graves of soldiers from our home states of south dakota and georgia. While the trip would have been meaningful enough on its own, it was doubly so because johnny cares so much about those issues. It meant so much to him to visit the places where american soldiers had served and died, to remember their sacrifices and to honor their memory. Mr. President , im going to miss working with johnny. His retirement is a real loss for the institution. Im not the only senator who will miss his expertise and dedication as well as his unfailing graciousness and good humor. The senate is going to be a poorer place without him. There have been a lot of tributes to johnny since he announced his decision to retire. One that i came across that i thought really captured johnny was published in a georgia magazine. The author of the piece is a Political Science profess ooh at kennissaw state university. This is what i said and im quoting. As a Political Science professor and administrator. Im often asked by students if good people can serve in government and keep their integrity. Johnny isakson is always the first example i come to. Its very often a shocking revolution revelation to most people that good people can and often do serve in government for long periods, fight hard for what they believe in, and remain true to themselves and to their principles. And they dont have to sell their souls to do it. Its a great lesson really. Unquote. I remember being down in georgia with johnny a few years ago on the weekend of the floridageorgia football game. We were at the one of the celebrations. I remember being struck by how well known and how well liked johnny was among the College Students who were there. Nowadays we often hear about young people being disillusioned with politics, but ive got to tell you, mr. President , these students werent disillusioned with Johnny Isakson. And i think thats because they recognized johnnys character. They knew that johnny was somebody who was truly genuinely committed to making life better for the people of his state, for the people of this country, that hear was somebody who had gotten into Public Service because he generally wanted to serve. Interestingly enough, mr. President , on that trip we were on the near the coast of georgia, and i had to get back to macon, georgia. My daughter was competing in a Crouse Country meet there. Johnny was kind enough he was flying back to atlanta to take me on that plane and to drop me at macon, georgia, so i could watch my daughter compete. Interestingly enough, when he got on the plane to go back from macon to atlanta, they had engine trouble, had to make an emergency landing. And johnny ended up, i think, having to drive or have somebody, a taxi or somebody drive the hundred miles from macon up to atlanta and his home. But thats the kind of person he s. He thought it was person he is. He thought it was important for me to be there, see my daughter compete and was always willing to go out of his way to make it possible for somebody to be able to participate in an event like that, a family event. And thats what i think about when i think about his retirement, mr. President. Im sad about his retirement but im happy hes going to have the chance to spend more time with dianne, with his family, his children and his grandchildren. Ive been lucky enough to get to know dianne as well as johnny over the years and theyre just the same. The warmest, kindest, most gracious people youll ever meet. I know that after years of sharing him with the people of georgia and the American People dianne and the rest of the family will enjoy having johnny to themselves for a while. After all, somebody has to babysit those eight beautiful grandchildren. Johnny, the senate is losing one of its finest members, but youve more than earned your retirement. And i wish you and dianne the very best in your retirement. Pray gods blessings upon you and let you know how much were going to miss you. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Carper mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from delaware. Mr. Carper mr. President , im pleased to join democrat and republican, independent colleagues alike on the floor today. I understand theres an overflow going to be back on the floor tomorrow to say the truth, to tell the truth about Johnny Isakson. One of my friends likes to say, flattery wont hurt you if you dont inhale. And johnny, a lot of nice things are being said about you today, more tomorrow, and probably for the rest of the year. So i would just say dont inhale too deeply. Youll be just fine. I just want to follow up on what several of our colleagues have said. A number of them talked about how kind johnny is. And he is one of those people who will say hello to the folks the custodians, the people who maybe run the elevators, the folks who are the Security Police here, even says nice things to the pages. Can you imagine that. And all that is true. Hes about as kind as anybody would ever want to meet. Its not just its not justificationally its not just occasionally. And hes also smart. Yoi havent heard anyone say hes smart. Maybe i missed it. But he is one smart fellow. My mother would say smart as a whip. Complex issues, he understands them. Hes really good at explaining them to even people like me can understand them. I first met johnny when he was newly elected to the senate and we had just established something called orientation. We didnt have orientation for a number of years here. Anand Lamar Alexander from tennessee and mike pryor from arkansas put together a three day ordeal for new senators and spouses. I remember johnny was in the first class that came through. Id been governor of delaware for eight years, got here in the beginning of 2001. One of the governors i served with was a governor from georgia named zell miller. And zell miller was elected, served to fouryear terms. I think he served two fouryear terms. And one of the people who ran against him was Johnny Isakson. And when Johnny Isakson senator Johnny Isakson came through orientation right after hed been elected, i asked him if he knew governor zell miller. And he i thought they had a connection. Sure enough they did because theyd run against each other in an earlier year. Theres a saying that some of you have heard. That saying is just because somebody is your opponent doesnt have to be your enemy. I dont think ive ever heard anybody say such nice things, kind things, generous things about their opponent in an earlier election where he lost. And still miller won and zell miller won. Proving your opponent does not have to be your enemy. For us around here in this day and age, thats a lesson wed do well to take to heart. I want one of the other things i want to say is to share a story i was reminded of today by one of our staff members. My office is in the Hart Building and ive been in the same office for gosh 19 years now. My staff doesnt want to leave. They want to stay there. They like it. What makes them happy theres the old saying happy life, happy wife. Well happy staff too. If they want to they want to stay in the same office. A number of years ago when johnny was new in the senate, fairly new in the senate, he came to a meeting on the same floor and he came to the wrong senate office. He came to my office by mistake. He meant to go to the Office Next Door where david vitter, the senator from louisiana, his office was next door to ours. And he came into the entrance, foyer, if you will, of our office and met a couple of young people at the front desk there. He came in and said he was here to see the senator and theyre looking at their schedules trying to figure out whats going on here. They didnt know quite how to tell him. They see the senator and he engaged one of the gals at the front desk was a little bit shy. He very kindly engaged her in a conversation. Tell me about you. She offered a few things. Then she stopped and he would just very, very gently pull out her story to make her feel special. And there was another fellow on the desk a short distance away in that foyer, that entrance to our office. A young man named david. He would say to senator isakson, hed say, senator senator ane would interrupt joh t
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