[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 144 (Tuesday, August 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5979-S5980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering John McCain

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I know we have a series of votes coming up, 
and I won't stand in the way of those votes once we get over the next 
couple of minutes, but I didn't want to let the week go by without 
talking a little bit about John McCain here on the floor.
  A number of people have asked me this week--particularly members of 
the media have asked: Who is going to replace John McCain? I think the 
point

[[Page S5980]]

is, he will be a hard man to replace. He brought a unique background to 
this job. He was raised in the house of a man who was going to become 
an admiral. His grandfather was an admiral on the deck of the USS 
Missouri when World War II ended. John McCain grew up in a house where 
visiting Members of the House and visiting Members of the Senate was 
not unusual. I think that gave him a real capacity to have a comfort 
level to speak forcefully and truthfully with people at all levels.
  Clearly, his time as a prisoner of war had a great impact not only on 
who he was but also on what he was able to do and what he was able to 
say and how he was able to say it. He was a man of intense energy.
  There is a picture in this building of Theodore Roosevelt seated in a 
chair, and his left hand is made into a fist. I never saw that picture 
thinking it was a fist about to hit somebody but a fist trying to 
contain his own energy.
  There was a reason Theodore Roosevelt was John McCain's hero. H.W. 
Brands wrote a book about Theodore Roosevelt, which was called ``T.R.: 
The Last Romantic.'' The truth is, if there were a last romantic, it 
was John McCain, not Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt was who he 
was, but John McCain brought an intensity to what we do, an immediate 
willingness to engage. Certainly, I think every Member of the Senate 
experienced at least once when that immediate engagement, with no doubt 
in his mind, was there. Members of the media also saw that. He was a 
man of intensity. He was a man who believed in his country. He was a 
man who believed this country deserved to be represented well all over 
the world and that freedom should be defended.
  Somebody observed to me earlier today that when traveling with John 
McCain, he was unbelievably patient with the troops and unbelievably 
tough with the generals. I saw that, and many of us saw that. He will 
be missed, but his work was well done. His place was clearly filled. He 
made a difference in the history of the country, and he made a 
difference for all of those of us who got to know him.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is, 
Will the Senate advise and consent to the Clarida nomination?
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Flake), 
and the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Leahy) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Johnson). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 69, nays 26, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 197 Ex.]

                                YEAS--69

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murphy
     Nelson
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Smith
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--26

     Baldwin
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     King
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murray
     Paul
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Udall
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Cruz
     Flake
     Leahy
     Murkowski
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the remaining 
votes in this series be 10 minutes in length.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

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