[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 21, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S1881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO THAD COCHRAN

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, back in 1985, I was a second-term Member 
of the House of Representatives and a member, I was proud to say, of 
the House Appropriations Committee. The Committee chairman was a man by 
the name of Jamie Whitten. He was from the State of Mississippi. He was 
a Mississippi Democrat. Yes, there used to be Mississippi Democrats.
  Jamie Whitten had been a witness to a great deal of American history. 
He was on the floor of the House as a newly minted Congressman from 
Mississippi on December 8, 1941, when Franklin Roosevelt delivered his 
``Day of Infamy'' speech.
  There I was speaking to this same man 44 years later, and I was a 
junior member of his Appropriations Committee. I knew that 
Appropriations, under the House rules, had several members who were 
also represented on the Budget Committee. So one day I went to Chairman 
Whitten from Mississippi and suggested to him that I wanted to be on 
the Budget Committee in the slot reserved for Appropriations members. 
Chairman Whitten looked down at me and he asked: Why do you want to be 
on the Budget Committee?
  I said: I think it is good because the Budget Committee makes the 
spending decisions and blueprints that Appropriations and other 
committees follow.
  He kind of sat back in his chair and Chairman Whitten said to me: 
Well, if you want to be on that committee, you can be on that 
committee, but I want you to remember one thing, the Budget Committee 
deals in hallucinations and the Appropriations Committee deals in 
facts.
  I will never forget that exchange. I served on the Budget Committee 
and again in the Senate on the same Budget Committee, and I have come 
to believe that Chairman Whitten was not that wrong in his conclusion. 
I call that ``Whitten's Law.'' It remains one of the most important 
lessons I have learned about the Federal budget.
  I have learned other lessons from Mississippi politicians, and one of 
them is a man by the name of Thad Cochran, my colleague from the State 
of Mississippi and one of my friends who cochairs the Defense 
Appropriations Subcommittee with me. I shouldn't say cochairs; I am the 
ranking member on that committee and he, of course, is the chairman. 
Thad Cochran taught me and others many important lessons about the 
Federal budget and about public service in general.
  Thad Cochran is a man of humility and integrity, and he is a man of 
his word. He is a conservative Republican who values principle and 
cooperation over pointless confrontation. He prefers common ground to 
scorched Earth because he knows it is better to build on.
  Senator Cochran and I have served together in the Senate for more 
than two decades. For much of that time, we have both been on the 
Senate Appropriations Committee. He has been the committee's ranking 
member and chairman twice. In all of those years, I can only think of a 
time or two when he and I disagreed so completely on an issue that we 
found ourselves unable to find that principled compromise. Some may 
call that ``old school.'' I call it leadership in a representative 
democracy.
  As a member and two-time chairman of the Senate Appropriations 
Committee, Senator Cochran's skill as a negotiator has served 
Mississippi and the United States exceedingly well. He has helped keep 
his State and our Nation strong and safe and economically sound.
  In a time that increasingly prizes the quick profits and short-term 
vision, Thad Cochran has helped to protect and increase America's 
investments in scientific, technological, and medical research. That is 
a proud part of the legacy he leaves.
  His voice is common and quiet, but don't be fooled. When it comes to 
protecting the interests of his State or this Nation, he is tenacious.
  That was never more apparent than in the weeks and months after 
Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Mississippi gulf coast and other States 
in 2005. Senator Cochran helped secure appropriations that enabled 
thousands of homeowners in Mississippi to rebuild after their insurance 
companies turned them down.
  As the former chairman and now ranking member of the Appropriations 
Committee Defense Subcommittee, I worked closely with Chairman Cochran 
to protect critical national security priorities in my State of 
Illinois, and he has worked hard for his State.
  Behind every Senator, of course, there are hard-working staff members 
without whom we could not do our jobs. Senator Cochran's personal staff 
and his committee staff are first-rate public servants. I want to thank 
them too. They have been part of a winning team with Senator Cochran. 
Their hard work and loyalty on his behalf and on behalf of the Senate 
has served this Nation well.
  I wasn't surprised the other day when I learned that Senator Cochran 
had been an Eagle Scout. I was surprised to learn, however, that he 
once failed in pursuit of a Boy Scout merit badge as a young man. He 
learned a lesson from that experience that he said has stayed with him 
all his life: Always be prepared.
  Thad Cochran's adherence to that lesson, his remarkable skill as a 
negotiator, and his deep integrity and honesty are qualities we could 
all do well to emulate.
  I thank Senator Thad Cochran and wish him all the best as he departs 
the Senate, and I thank him for his great service to Mississippi and to 
America.

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