[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 144 (Tuesday, August 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5965-S5966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering John McCain

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, we have been hit with some hard news in 
recent days. The toughest of all, perhaps, was losing our friend and 
colleague John McCain this past weekend. He was a man who loved his 
country and was beloved in return.
  One of the things I appreciate the most about our friend Senator 
McCain is he truly believed in all his heart, in all his being, in all 
his soul, in American exceptionalism and that America had to lead in 
the world because in the absence of American leadership, that void 
would be destabilizing and even dangerous.
  We know that John cast a long shadow in Congress over the last four 
decades of American politics, and we will continue to honor and 
remember him this week and into the future. But tears and 
sentimentality are not what he would want from us. Today, instead, we 
should try to remain a little more grateful than we otherwise would be. 
We should be grateful for his example. We should be grateful for his 
daring skill as a pilot and lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. We 
should be grateful for his tenacity and resolve as a prisoner of war in 
Vietnam--a prisoner subject to unbelievable cruelty and torture but one 
who endured all of these unspeakable torments and one who was quick to 
remind us of what that was endured for; that is, our freedom. I think 
he was one of liberty's best ambassadors.
  We should remain grateful for our friend John McCain's willingness 
and ability to serve his State of Arizona for so many years and to 
serve our great country, by running for public office, for radiating 
such a sense of purpose, such a sense of moral seriousness each time, 
even during tough, grueling political races. And they didn't always 
turn out the way he would have liked. We should learn from the dignity 
and honor that he displayed even in defeat after his Presidential 
campaigns did not work out in his favor.
  Like all of us, he was an imperfect man. Let's just say he was a work 
in progress, as we all are. He won many political battles, and he lost 
a few along the way, but he always responded admirably. After slipping 
with some run-in with adversity, he got back up, dusted himself off, 
and tried harder the next time.
  We should also be grateful for Senator McCain's dedication to our 
Nation's Armed Forces throughout his political career, including as 
chairman of the Armed Services Committee, where I served with him for a 
number of years. We should cherish his friendship. We should remember 
that at the end of the day, the Senator many called a maverick had a 
gruff, sometimes intimidating exterior, but he also was a compassionate 
man and one who displayed not only tremendous loyalty to friends but a 
tremendous love for his family, who are now grieving.
  As our Nation mourns the loss of John McCain and as my colleagues and 
I are all too aware of his absence here today, we are all challenged to 
be stronger patriots and better citizens. That is what he would want 
from us.
  As Senator McCain told cadets during a 1993 commencement address at 
the U.S. Naval Academy, ``My time is slipping by. Yours is fast 
approaching. You will know where your duty lies.'' Our duty now lies in 
continuing the difficult, courageous work Senator McCain devoted his 
life to, and it is not a burden that we take lightly. We do so gladly, 
and we mourn for those for whom the last few days have been most 
difficult.
  As we express our condolences to Senator McCain's mother, his seven 
children and five grandchildren, and, of course, his wife Cindy and the 
entire McCain family, we want them to know that we continue to think of 
them. We

[[Page S5966]]

continue to pray for them. We continue to celebrate with them the 
great, larger-than-life, and distinguished life of Senator John McCain.
  It is hard to lose one of your best teammates, but I know the legacy 
John McCain leaves here in the Senate will long remain.
  I want to echo a few comments made by the majority leader earlier 
today. John McCain was a lion in the Senate and in American politics. 
That is why I believe we should put together a bipartisan group who can 
bring together the best ideas on how we can memorialize his service to 
his country and his legacy here in the Senate. We should do this 
carefully and consider all options about what the best form that 
tribute should take. Doing this in a collaborative and a deliberate way 
I hope is how Senator McCain would have wanted it. I can't tell you how 
many times he always advocated for regular order. He didn't want ideas 
cooked up in some back room and then sprung on the Nation and the 
Senate; he wanted the committees to do their work because he knew that 
by doing so--by thinking about them, by testing ideas in a committee 
process--we improve the chances of a better product.
  Despite our heavy loss, we can't lose sight of our other work, 
either. I think Senator McCain would want us to keep pushing the ball 
forward and achieving more on behalf of the American people.
  We all remember him as a fighter until the very end, and staying in 
the fight and making progress for the American people is what he would 
expect of us as well.