Congressional Record, Volume 160 Issue 149 (Tuesday, December 9, 2014)

[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 149 (Tuesday, December 9, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6421-S6424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

TRIBUTES TO MIKE JOHANNS

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I had an opportunity to address the
extraordinary career of the Senator from Nebraska the other day, and he
was on the floor, which was welcomed, and his staff was in the gallery.
I wanted to say again, in a much shorter version, how much we all
appreciate his remarkable contributions to our country, to his State,
and to the Senate and wish him well in the future.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I rise today to celebrate the legacy
of my dear friend, my colleague, and my fellow Nebraskan, Senator Mike
Johanns.
Senator Johanns has dedicated more than three decades of his life to
serving the people of Nebraska and also this Nation. His career in
public service began at the local level, where he was elected to the
Lancaster County Board of Commissioners. He later joined the Lincoln
City Council, and eventually became mayor of Nebraska's capital city
where he served for two terms.
Perhaps the most infamous decision Senator Johanns ever made
throughout his career in public service was in his days as mayor of
Lincoln. After an early season winter storm dropped more than a foot of
heavy wet snow on Lincoln in late October, Mayor Johanns decided to
cancel Halloween. He cited power outages and hazardous downed power
lines.
As you can imagine, this news was not received well among some of
those Lincolnites. To this day, constituents haven't forgotten and they
still occasionally remind him of how he deprived an entire city of
trick or treats on that fateful October evening. He made up for it,
though, when he and his wife Stephanie treated children who came to
trick or treat at the mansion.
Fortunately, this incident didn't deal a death blow to Senator
Johanns' political career. He went on to serve as Governor of Nebraska
and was reelected to a second term.
As Governor, he focused on fiscal discipline and the responsible use
of limited State tax dollars, principles he upheld here in the Senate
as well. At one point, as Governor, he even vetoed an entire 2-year
budget proposal because it raised taxes to expand government power.
He also championed ambitious mental health reforms that allowed
patients to receive care in the stability and in the security of their
own communities where they could be near their loved ones. A decade
later, these reforms in Nebraska are still regarded as a major
milestone in improving mental health care.
Before he was a Senator or a Governor or a mayor or a city
councilman, he worked on his family's dairy farm. That is not easy
work. And as Mike puts it, it is a job that builds character and
humility. Growing up on a dairy farm, he would milk cows every day
before school, sometimes even taking the tractor halfway to town in the
winter months when the roads were so bad that the schoolbus couldn't
get out to his farm.
This upbringing gave Senator Johanns a great appreciation and a deep
understanding for the needs of our Nation's ag producers, so it was no
surprise when President George W. Bush selected him to lead the
Department of Agriculture as its Secretary. Mike dutifully served in
this role, overseeing a new reform-oriented farm bill and opening doors
to new global markets for our Nation's ag producers.
As Secretary of Agriculture, he saw firsthand the challenges facing
hungry nations. It was in this role that he fell in love with the
people of Africa, and he has worked here in the Senate to develop food
aid programs that not only feed but also empower hungry populations
around the world.
Senator Johanns has tirelessly worked for our State and our Nation.
He brought to the Senate a unique perspective, having served virtually
every level of government. His well-rounded approach to his work here
reflects that rare wisdom. Many of us here have had the pleasure of
working closely with him because he always makes a point to work with
his colleagues regardless of party affiliation, whether it be on
complex legislation or that annual Senate secret Santa tradition.
We are all familiar with the confident, peaceful demeanor he brings
to the Senate, and his plain-spoken clarity will truly be missed once
he leaves Congress. This is who Mike Johanns is. It is who he has
always been: a quiet workhorse with a soft spot for the world's most
disadvantaged, and a burning desire to help wherever he can. Friends
back home who have known him since before he began his career in public
service will tell you that he is the same man today he was back then--
never losing sight of his goal of helping people, never getting a big
head, and always putting Nebraska first.
The Senator's wife Stephanie has been by his side throughout every
step of this tremendous journey, always supportive and steadfast.
Anyone who knows Mike knows he and Steph are inseparable. I am sure
they are both looking forward to having more time to spend with family
next year.
Mike, you are a statesman and a model citizen. I am thankful for all
the work you have done for Nebraska and for the entire Nation. You have
set such a great example for your fellow Senators, and we all
appreciate your dedication over these past 32 years. You have served
Nebraska with dignity and integrity. Good luck. I wish you and
Stephanie all the best. God bless you both.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, this is a bittersweet time for all of
us. As you have heard, as we close the book on one term of Congress and
look forward to the next, we are here to say goodbye to one of our
esteemed colleagues who is finishing his service in the Senate. It is
always tough, but it is especially hard for me with regard to Senator
Mike Johanns--a guy I consider a fine Senator, also a good friend, and
sort of the perfect example of the statesman. Through his impressive
career as mayor, Governor, Cabinet member, and Senator, as his
colleague has just said, he has displayed that.

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I first met Senator Johanns when he was Secretary Johanns. He was
Secretary of Agriculture in the George W. Bush Cabinet, and that meant
we got to spend a lot of time together. I was the U.S. Trade
Representative, and I truly believe I have traveled around the world
more with Mike than I have with my family. We went all over, from Asia
to Europe to South America and Africa. We fought for farmers and
ranchers. Our ideal was that we could expand exports, and we were able
to do that and make some progress with his hard work.
We went to far-flung corners of the world, such as Burkina Faso, to
deal with cotton issues important to U.S. farmers. We spent countless--
and I mean countless--hours on something called the green room
negotiating sessions, trying to reach a deal in the Doha round of talks
with the World Trade Organization.
I remember one time Mike and I had the opportunity to brief reporters
as we were going across Africa. We were racing across the Sahara desert
to make our way to an airport. Because the airport had no lights, the
pilots insisted we get there while there was still light so they could
see where they were landing.
He taught me a lot, not just about arcane agricultural issues, such
as what is a green box or an amber box subsidy in agriculture--fun
issues such as that--but he also taught me a lot about negotiating and
about how, as we said earlier, to be a statesman.
We had some tough negotiating sessions, but Mike was always a proud
and relentless representative and champion for the interests of our
great country and the interests of the farmers and ranchers he knew so
well. He always did his job on the global stage with honor and with
dignity. If there has ever been a more forceful advocate for American
farmers, whether it was there or here in the Senate, I don't know who
it is.
In 2007, he told me he was going to leave the administration and go
home to Nebraska, and that he was considering running for the Senate. I
never thought I would be able to serve with him, because I didn't know
I was going to follow him, but I knew when he told me that, he would be
in the Senate and that he would put in the same level of dedication to
this body as he had as Secretary of Agriculture, and that has been
true.
He is not flashy. His colleague from Nebraska has just called him a
workhorse. I hope he takes that as a compliment. I would. He has never
sought out the cameras or, for that matter, sought out recognition for
his good work. He just does the right thing. A true statesman.
So, Mike Johanns, we are going to miss you. We are going to miss
Stephanie. And we wish you Godspeed.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. ROBERTS. Madam President, the first time I met Mike Johanns was
in Hutchison, KS. Hutchison, KS, is where we have the State fair every
year. I was somebody then. I was the chairman of the sometimes powerful
House Committee on Agriculture, and I had made a pitch to get the
Secretary of Agriculture to actually come to the fair, thinking that
Mike Johanns would be a far better speaker than myself and maybe I
could avoid some trouble. So I had the Secretary come and I made the
promise that every farmer who wanted to ask the Secretary of
Agriculture a question would have that opportunity. I hadn't bothered
to tell Mike about it, but when he arrived on the scene, he nodded his
head and said: Fine. He had this yellow tablet under his arm, and with
ample staff, some who used to work for me, but that is beside the
point.
So cutting things short, all the activities in the State fair he
attended, and he dutifully went around to every exhibit, and we finally
ended up in the amphitheater and there must have been 150 to 175
farmers all lined up waiting to speak to or to question the Secretary
of Agriculture. I thought to myself: Oh, my gosh, what have I done? The
Secretary is coming in--I didn't know Mike that well at that particular
time--and what have I gotten him into?
But Mike didn't seem to be bothered at all. He was absolutely
comfortable, unflappable. He had the microphone and he sat down at a
table, put down the yellow tablet and said: Yes, sir, and what is your
first question and what is your name? The individual would give his
name and the question, and Mike would write down the question. He said:
Thank you very much for that. It will receive all of our attention.
Next.
He went through the whole 125 or 150 and never answered a question,
but he wrote it down. Every farmer who came up later to me said: You
know, the Secretary wrote down my question. They were tremendously
impressed, as opposed to me. Silly me, I would have tried to answer
their questions, and we would have been there 2 or 3 hours, Lord knows
how long. So I asked Mike: How do you get by with that? He said: Well,
it saves a lot of time and you never get in trouble by what you don't
say, which always sort of stuck with me and what a class act he was.
County commissioner, mayor of Lincoln, Governor, Secretary of
Agriculture, U.S. Senate. I suppose if I floated a balloon for you to
be President that you might--no, Stephanie wouldn't buy it and you
wouldn't either. But that would be the logical next step, Mike, and I
think we certainly could and probably will do a lot worse. But at any
rate, since I brought up Stephanie, Franki and I extend our very best
wishes and love.
I do have somewhat of a minor discomfort, it isn't a quarrel--I would
never quarrel with Stephanie--but some degree of discomfort.
We have to have meetings around here a lot, and some of us stay for
the whole thing. We would always look around for Mike. He would be
around for the fireworks and then he would leave and he would always go
home--because he had a home very close on Capitol Hill--to be with
Stephanie.
She is absolutely wonderful. She has the best smile ever. You cannot
be unhappy or in a bad mood ever when you see Stephanie.
So I would come to work in the Hart Building or here in the Capitol
and I would happen to run into Stephanie and she would always come up
with that big smile on her face and say: Hi, Pat. How are things going?
What are you going to do? I mean, I am trying to be the curmudgeon of
the Senate, but Grassley keeps edging me out. So here I would be in
sort of a bad or a grumpy mood and she would flash that smile, and I
would say: Just fine. Then I would be feeling pretty good and I would
go into the office. They would say: What is wrong? You have a smile on
your face. I would say, ``I've been Stephanized.'' I am truly going to
miss that.
I remember the time we were sitting probably right about here in the
back. We had just concluded the farm bill for the first time, and then
it took us 400 days to get the rest of it. Mike is an expert on
agriculture program policy. Ask anybody else if they would like to talk
about agriculture program policy and you would get a high glaze after
about 8 seconds--but not Michael. Mike knows agriculture farm program
policy. We call it farm program policy in Nebraska and Kansas, but he
knows an awful lot about it.
I asked him: How many people do you think in this body, in this
Senate, absolutely understand farm program policy? He retorted: How
many people want to understand agriculture program policy? We decided
there were about 5 in the Senate and maybe about 10 in the House--which
shows you why we have a tough time getting the farm bill done.
I relied on his advice and counsel when I was the ranking member. I
am so sorry--I regret--should I have the privilege of becoming chairman
of the Senate agriculture committee, I would look forward to a dynamic
duo with regard to what we could accomplish. But Senator Johanns is
like Shane: Come back, Shane. Come back, Mike. But Shane rode away, and
the Senator is going to ride back to Nebraska. I give him that, and I
give him all of the success he can possibly have.
Six years is all this man has served. Some people have been here a
lot longer. I have. You can accomplish a lot in 6 years. People say:
What can you do in 6 years?
No. 1, you can work on legislation and you can know what you are
talking about and you can earn people's respect and you can be smart
about it. I don't mean smart smart. I mean just smart, so that what you
say and when

[[Page S6423]]

you say it, people pay attention. That is precisely the kind of person
Mike is. You can have all the integrity in the world and you can do
exactly what he says when he talks about the people of Nebraska.
The people of Kansas are very similar to the people of Nebraska. My
only complaint with the people of Nebraska is they chose to go play in
the Big Ten and are finding it a little more difficult than running the
track meets they used to run against Kansas State and KU. But if you
want to go to the Big Ten and do that, why that is your business--but
we have the same kind of roots.
I have always said there are no self-made men or women in public
office. It is our friends and the people we represent who make us what
we are, and Senator Johanns has spoken so eloquently to that.
Michael, I was trying to think of a tag I could label you with that
might be noteworthy of everything you stand for. Others will do better
than I and others have already said that. I simply come up by saying
that you are an uncommon man with a very common touch, and I am going
to miss you--and everybody in the conference is going to miss you and I
suspect everybody in the Senate is going to miss you for the way you
have conducted yourself and the job you have done for Nebraska.
We wish you all the best and we love you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). The Senator from Maine.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, when Senator Mike Johanns stated in
February of last year that he had decided not to seek a second term in
the Senate, he did so in a way that revealed so much about his
character. There was no dramatic press conference, there were no weeks
of rumors, there were no guessing games. Instead, there was just a
simple and brief press release.
Then, the very next day it was back to work for Senator Johanns,
traveling throughout the State of Nebraska for a series of townhall
meetings with the people he is honored to serve.
Nine months later, in October of 2013, his character again shone
through. The Federal Government was shut down due to a massive failure
to govern responsibly. It was stifling our economy and causing great
harm to the trust the American people deserve to have in their
government.
As a key member of our Common Sense Coalition, Senator Johanns worked
effectively and quietly to restore government operations and to restore
citizen trust in government. Again, no dramatics, no search for the
limelight, just solid results, just effective leadership.
Quiet, effective leadership guided by common sense has been the
hallmark throughout the Senator's 32 years in public service. From
Lancaster County commissioner and mayor of Lincoln to Governor of
Nebraska and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, he has been well informed,
thoughtful, and untiring.
The old farm country saying that sowing is easy, reaping is hard
perfectly describes his record of accomplishment and his determination
to see any task to its completion. Most of all, the Senator from
Nebraska always does what he thinks is in the best interests of our
country and of the people he so proudly represents.
In an interview shortly before he announced that he would be leaving
the Senate, Senator Johanns said he hoped he would be remembered as ``a
guy who was good to work with.''
Working with Senator Mike Johanns has been more than just good. It
has been an honor and a privilege and I wish him and Stephanie all the
best.
Thank you for your service.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise to also express my appreciation for
Senator Mike Johanns and for his wife Stephanie.
I first met Mike shortly after I was elected Governor of my State. At
that time Mike was serving as Governor of Nebraska. Right away when I
went and visited with Mike I could tell this was somebody who was not
only somebody we could count on but who had the right motivation in
public service, had great ideas, and was somebody I could look to as a
mentor, and I have ever since.
From his experience at the local level as commissioner, then as
mayor, then as Governor, then as Secretary of Agriculture, and then as
a Senator, Mike has been somebody all of us have counted on and
somebody whose advice we have sought when we wrestled with tough
decisions.
So I just want to add my voice as well to the others who have
expressed our appreciation for Senator Mike Johanns and for Stephanie
and to say how much we are going to miss him. We are going to miss him
not only on a personal level--because he is a great guy and a great
friend and somebody we can count on--but we are going to miss his
advice, his counsel, his participation in this process on behalf of the
American people.
I think Mike epitomizes the kind of approach we need to have in this
body to get work done--to listen, to think carefully, and to remember
always that we work for the American people, and he has a long and
distinguished career doing that.
He is somebody who will be truly missed, and I think he is somebody
who exemplifies the very best of this body and of public service on
behalf of our great Nation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, our colleagues know the Presiding Officer
is a recovering Governor, I am a recovering Governor, Mike Johanns is a
recovering Governor. So we are sort of a support group for one another,
men and women who used to be somebody special. I am kidding because I
think we still are.
The Senator was talking about Michael, and I had the privilege of
knowing him and his wife for a number of years. We were Governors
together, and my wife Martha and his wife Stephanie were First Ladies
together and define what the standards should be for First Lady or
First Man, if you will, if you have a female Governor.
I will never forget when I first met him. I was talking about
Stephanie and how we know each other and so forth, and he told me this
great story about--I think they were county commissioners together. It
was Lancaster County.
I might be mistaken, I think he used to be in those days maybe a
Democrat, and a long time ago I was a young Republican for Barry
Goldwater, when I was a 17-year-old Republican freshman student at Ohio
State, and later found out Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater ``Golden
Girl'' at the Republican convention in 1964.
In any event, I just want to say one of the reasons he is so
thoughtful, and I hope maybe the reason I am fairly thoughtful, is
because we have the ability to work across the aisle and to see and
appreciate the views of other people.
The story about how he and Stephanie, when they were on county
council together, they met, started liking each other, started dating,
fell in love and later got married--they even had lunch together every
day they were on county council, and every day he was Governor they
continued to have lunch together and here, too, for many days. That is
a love, the kind you just don't see. You just don't see that very much.
I just want to say: You are such an inspiration to the rest of us,
you and your wife, the way you cherish each other and hold together and
support each other and stand by each other. It is just a real source of
inspiration.
There is an old saying: It doesn't matter who gets credit for
something when you get a lot more done. You define that, a guy who
doesn't need headlines, a lot of attention. I hope the rest of us are
that way, but you define that for us.
We love working with you. We are going to miss you. We wish you the
best and wish you Godspeed. As we say in the Navy, fair winds. God
bless you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am here to talk about the Intelligence
Committee report, but before the Senator leaves the floor, I just want
to tell my colleague from Nebraska how much I appreciate his service. I
note for the body that in the effort to build a bipartisan coalition
for major tax reform, Mike Johanns was the Senator whose counsel we all
thought we needed, and I thank him. I will have more to say about his
career before the end of this week.

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