[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 148 (Thursday, September 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H7914-H7917]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF SENATOR JOHN McCAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. 
Hill) for 30 minutes.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, tonight, in this hallowed Chamber of the 
House, in the U.S. Capitol, we pay tribute to a good friend, a patriot, 
a loyal Member of this House of Representatives, and the Senate, and 
that is John McCain, who we lost last week, after a long and productive 
life.
  It seems fitting that we are here in the House Chamber with the 
portraits of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, two 
generals in the army of the liberation in our American Revolution, two 
comrades at arms, two people who set the standard for high, ethical 
standards of leadership, and leading us in what we treasure today, our 
United States of America. And really John McCain epitomized that.
  Mr. Speaker, it may be unusual that a Member from Arkansas would lead 
a tribute in honor of our distinguished former colleague, but there is 
a connection, because when I started, one of my earliest jobs was 
serving Senator John Tower of Texas, on his personal staff and on the 
staff of the Senate banking committee.
  You couldn't work for John Tower and not be a friend to John McCain, 
because John McCain was, as a young captain, the liaison to the Senate 
between 1977 and 1981, and then he ran for office in 1982 in his home 
State of Arizona.
  He said it was hard to decide to run. He didn't really have a home. 
The longest place he had lived before he ran for Congress from Arizona 
was in the Hanoi Hilton, Mr. Speaker.

                              {time}  1830

  And John Tower broke his promise to not campaign and mess around in a 
Republican primary by traveling Arizona and Texas helping John McCain 
win his election in 1982.
  They were, like Lafayette and Washington, comrades in arms, both Navy 
men: Tower, the seniormost enlisted man elected to the Senate, and John 
McCain, a captain, son and grandson of admirals.
  Tower's favorite story about John was when they went to Oman, and 
Captain McCain was his escort officer on a codel, and they were with 
the Sultan of Oman out in the desert in a tent, arrayed on beautiful 
carpets.
  As you know, it is bad protocol to show one's soles of the feet in 
the Arab culture, and John McCain, Mr. Speaker, could not bend his legs 
from his beatings in the Hanoi Hilton. And so there he was, cross-
legged--or tried to be cross-legged--in that tent in Oman with the 
soles of his feet pointing directly at the sultan.
  It was Tower who said: Your Majesty, please understand that Captain 
McCain can't properly cross his legs, as he was a POW in Vietnam and is 
crippled from that horrible ordeal.
  And the Sultan of Oman said: My dear Senator, I am a graduate of 
Sandhurst and a former captain in the British Army of the Rhine. I 
understand. And it is a pleasure to have Captain McCain at our table.
  Years later, it was John McCain who worked his tail off to try to 
have John Tower confirmed as Secretary of Defense in 1989 for my old 
boss, President Bush, to no avail. But in the minutes before that 
failed vote in the Senate, McCain turned to Tower and said: God bless 
you, John Tower. You are a damn fine sailor.
  So tonight, Mr. Speaker, I pay tribute to John McCain, his 
comradeship, his friendship with John Tower, his

[[Page H7915]]

service to this country, his undenied patriotic leadership and strength 
in the country that we have today.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to call on my friend from Texas, and it is 
a special call, it is an emotional call for all of us in this Chamber 
tonight, to ask Sam Johnson to come to the podium, Sam Johnson, who 
spent 7 years in the Hanoi Hilton, 42 months in solitary confinement, a 
29-year career in the Air Force.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I now yield to my friend, the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Sam Johnson), and thank him for sharing his thoughts on his 
comrade in arms, former Senator John McCain.
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
recognizing me, and I appreciate those comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, French Hill, for 
arranging this Special Order to honor John.
  Mr. Speaker, John was more than just a colleague in Congress. We were 
friends, and that friendship was forged in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. 
Not everyone knows that he and I shared a cell there together for a 
time.
  I can testify to the fact that John did everything he could to defend 
freedom and honor our great Nation, not just in that hell on Earth, but 
beyond those bleak years. This is most evident in his service in the 
United States House and Senate.
  John, we will remember your strength of spirit, your commitment to 
our servicemembers and our democracy, and your love of country.
  I would now like to tap a special message for John and his family, 
who remain in my prayers. This tap code was used by the POWs to resist 
our captors.
  That is a G. That is a B. And that is a U. And that is what we all 
used to use, ``God bless you.''
  God bless you, partner. I salute you.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank our good friend for his service.
  Sam Johnson has served this Chamber so nobly during his years on Ways 
and Means and ends his career in the people's House this term. All of 
us treasure our time with him, our work together, and his leadership, 
and we treasure his remarks tonight in honor of his great comrade.
  And, sir, we salute you and we thank you, and God bless you for all 
you have done for this great country.
  With that, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Denham), who 
serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Natural 
Resources. Also, he served this great country in the Air Force for 16 
years, fought in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq, Operation Restore Hope 
in Somalia. We welcome him, and we thank him for his comments tonight.
  Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for recognizing me.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor John McCain, a family man, a war 
hero, United States Senator, and a very, very close friend.
  John was a one-of-a-kind, a man with an undeniable spirit, an 
incredible gift to work alongside people of different beliefs and 
backgrounds for the good of all people.
  As a veteran, I recognized John's service went above and beyond the 
call of duty.
  McCain was not the kind of man to put his brothers in arms at risk to 
save his own skin. Even as a POW, he put country first.
  His patriotism was inspiring. It was so inspiring that, as a young 
airman at the time--I was going to junior college at Victor Valley 
College, became the student body president, and the first time they 
sent somebody to Washington, D.C., it was me. It was my first trip to 
Washington, D.C., and I actually got to meet the man that I had only 
read about and really got to know him, know John and his real 
character.
  It was an honor to be with him in the 2000 campaign and again in the 
2008 campaign. In 2008, we spent a lot of time traveling together 
throughout the West Coast, even spending some time in my district in 
Modesto, California.
  Sonia and I were lucky enough to witness John at his happiest on his 
ranch in Sedona, working the grill, surrounded by family, to see the 
joy in the man's face just flipping shrimp and burgers and being around 
family in a very serene, beautiful spot.
  John never lost sight of what truly mattered. He was willing to take 
on great risk in his political career, as he did in his military one, 
not because it was convenient or because it would benefit him, but 
because he knew it was the right thing to do.
  John and I worked together to create a bipartisan fix for our broken 
immigration system. Together, we drafted the Uniting and Securing 
America Act, the USA Act, as he introduced it in the Senate, one that 
would provide a compromise for children who were brought here through 
no fault of their own and deserve an opportunity in this great country.
  He and I had sat down initially in 2010 when I was first elected to 
Congress to talk about my idea on the ENLIST Act and talk about how you 
could show the ultimate act of patriotism and allow these kids in our 
high schools to be able to serve in the military. Together, we made 
sure our country had a serious discussion about real immigration reform 
for the first time in over 20 years.
  Here in the U.S. House of Representatives and across the country, we 
must not lose sight of the vision John had for this Nation. His America 
was one defined by bipartisanship, optimism, and hope, looking forward 
to a brighter tomorrow where our Nation can come together as one; and 
I, too, believe in that vision.
  I will be forever grateful to John for making me part of his 
incredible journey, and I pray that the example he set will serve as an 
inspiration for this Congress, for our Nation, and for generations to 
come.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill very much for yielding to me tonight 
and for honoring our great friend.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California. I 
appreciate his personal testimony about John's service and his 
friendship. I thank him again for his service to our country, not only 
in the people's House, but in the U.S. Air Force.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to my friend from Memphis, my neighbor from 
across the Mississippi River, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen), 
a Representative from Memphis who serves on the Committee on Ethics, 
where he is a ranking member. I am proud to have his contributions 
tonight in tribute and memory to our former colleague, Senator McCain.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for scheduling this Special 
Order. It is most appropriate that we meet here and we talk about John 
McCain, whose elected political career started in this House with two 
terms in the House of Representatives.
  I spent most of my life as an elected legislator, 39 years, and I 
value my service. I think highly of people who take the oath of office 
and support it and make people think that government is an honorable 
profession and encourage younger generations to get involved because 
they set good examples.
  John McCain was one of those people who set a good example for 
American citizens to think well of their government, to think well of 
their leaders, and to desire to serve in public office.
  John McCain was a person I only had a few opportunities to interact 
with, and each of those opportunities are ones I will never forget. He 
was as nice and kind as he could be.
  But I knew him from his career. We didn't always agree. He was a 
conservative and a Republican. But when he was wrong, he learned and he 
changed, and that is a great sign of a human being, to be able to 
continually evolve and become a better human being.
  When he was running for President, he wasn't able, in South Carolina, 
in 2000, to come out against the Confederate flag, but he later knew it 
was wrong, came out against it and admitted his mistake.
  He learned about campaign finance and worked with Russ Feingold on 
campaign finance reform, and on that, he was a maverick.
  And he was a maverick on climate change. He recognized science and 
the need to preserve our planet.
  He recognized the need to have reasonable and good immigration laws 
to not only protect our borders, but to give others an opportunity to 
come to this country and continue to make our country greater, because 
what we are is a country of immigrants that has benefited from the 
brainpower and hard work of immigrants who have sought a better home 
for themselves and their families.
  John McCain was courageous as a military leader in Vietnam when he

[[Page H7916]]

was in prison, but he was courageous as a politician. When he stood up 
to the lady that condemned Barack Obama and was trying to throw 
scurrilous remarks about Barack Obama--in her mind they were 
scurrilous--John McCain, the candidate, could have just gone on and let 
it pass and moved to the next subject, but he didn't because he had 
character and he had a soul. And he stopped and he told the lady: ``No. 
You are wrong. Barack Obama is a good man. He is a good family man.'' 
And he spoke well of his opponent, something that we have not seen in 
recent Presidential elections, a Presidential candidate who rose above 
the fight and realized that Barack Obama and he were both Americans and 
on the same team even though he wanted to be President rather than 
Barack Obama.
  There is so much that John McCain did. And when he came and did that 
famous thumbs-down on the ACA--yes, I was for the ACA, so I liked that 
a lot. I don't know if he did that because of the fact that the Senate 
wasn't following their rules and regular order, which was a good reason 
not to be for it, or if it was because he had recently found out that 
he had brain cancer and was undergoing a horrific health experience 
that he did face with great courage, but he saw that he had had the 
best medical treatment available, and I suspect he had to think about 
Americans who needed health insurance if they came into the same 
situation that he had experienced.
  That showed he had empathy and he could grow and vote in a way as a 
human being and not just as a party person, because of others who 
suffer from health afflictions.
  I watched every minute of the services in Phoenix, here in 
Washington, and was inspired--inspired--by Meghan McCain and her 
remarks and the two Presidents who were his opponents who spoke so well 
of him, and others.

                              {time}  1845

  I am sorry I couldn't attend those services on Saturday. I will be in 
Annapolis, Maryland, and I will visit his grave and pay my respects in 
person. He was a great American, and he was courageous. We are lucky he 
came our way.
  Fair winds and following seas, John McCain.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Tennessee for his 
remarks about our friend John McCain.
  Now, I would like to ask a colleague of his from Arizona, my friend, 
who we served on the House Financial Services Committee together, Dave 
Schweikert, who represents Phoenix and Scottsdale and currently serves 
on the House Ways and Means Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to Representative Schweikert and thank him for 
being with us tonight.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for doing this Special 
Order.
  Mr. Speaker, I am going to give you, actually, a slightly different 
recollection, because I am one of those who, over the years, since 
almost 1982, had time around John McCain.
  I want to start with the fact that I have had the pleasure of having 
John McCain step in when I was running for office and endorse me and 
help me and do things. And I have had the pleasure of having John 
McCain step into one of my races to oppose me and work against me.
  It was always a really interesting experience, because one of the 
reasons I have never held hostility, and, actually, always really 
appreciated him, it is something that rarely happens around this body. 
Someone fusses at you and a couple of hours later calls you and says: 
Hey, I thought about that. We need to talk it through. I think there is 
a way we can fix it. Hey, I didn't mean that.
  To have a U.S. Senator sometimes being frustrated with what you were 
doing, and then a couple of hours later call you and say: Hey, I am 
sorry. I was probably a little aggressive on that. I understand. Have 
you thought about doing it this way?
  This place never says sorry. This place never sort of has that type 
of passion. And you heard over and over in the memorials in Phoenix and 
here at the Capitol discussions of people who were very close with 
Senator McCain, this sort of discussion of how human he was, how 
passionate he was.
  I want to make the argument of someone who knew Senator McCain most 
of his life and interacted with him in and out throughout that life. It 
is that humanity, that ability to at one moment put a finger in my 
chest and fuss at me, and an hour later call me and say: David, how can 
I help you? I want to help you get something done. Can I help you get 
this done if you do it this way?
  That humanity, that passion, is something that desperately is missing 
around here. We have all become so careful in everything we say and 
everything we do, because there is always the next moment we are going 
to get beaten up by someone out in the community, or the press, or 
those things.
  Imagine this body if we all were like Senator McCain, where you just 
sort of let your passion fly. If you went a little too far, you said 
you were sorry. If it was something worth fighting for, you stood up 
and you engaged in it. And then, a few minutes later, you went out and 
had a hamburger with the very people you were debating.
  Some of that is really missing around here, because we are so far in 
our camps. I am not sure the public completely understands the power, 
whether it be on the Democratic side or the Republican side, of when 
the cameras go off, when the reporters aren't around, when we are 
walking through the hallways, when we are in the elevator. There is 
this great humanity around here.
  I think that humanity was exemplified by my former senior Senator, 
John McCain.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona. I thank him 
for his personal stories tonight and his tribute to our former friend 
from Arizona.
  It is a pleasure for me to ask my friend from Fresno, California, 
Representative  Jim Costa, to share some thoughts on the life of John 
McCain.
  Mr. Costa serves on the Agriculture Committee and Natural Resources 
Committee, and we are grateful for him being with us tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. 
Hill) for giving me this opportunity to pay my tribute to Senator John 
McCain.
  John McCain was clearly an American hero. His love and patriotism for 
our country knew no bounds. I first met Senator McCain in 2006 when we 
were on a congressional trip to Antarctica. We spent 6 days together, 
exploring the science and the efforts that were going on with NASA and 
with our Defense Department and American universities that were doing 
valuable research.
  I got to witness firsthand his self-deprecating sense of humor. Like 
he did with many Members and people with whom he came into contact, he 
gave me counsel. During those days we spent together he said: Hey, kid, 
if you really want to learn how to do this right--well, first of all, I 
liked the fact that he called me kid--you ought to listen carefully. 
Too many people around here don't spend enough time listening.
  For me, and for so many other Members and people professionally that 
Senator McCain came into contact with, he was a role model on how we 
should conduct ourselves, not only as Representatives, but also as 
people who want to solve problems. He, clearly, I think, set the bar 
quite high on how we develop bipartisan compromises.
  I gave a speech here last year about what has happened to the art of 
the political compromise. Has it become a lost art? Well, Senator John 
McCain had fine-tuned his skills, his efforts to reach across the 
aisle, to figure out ways in which you could bring people together to 
find that art of the political compromise.
  So his greatness, really, is one that reflects the true values of 
Americans. For all of us, I think he instilled the nature of--as we 
know in our country, historically, there is the politics of hope and 
there is the politics of hate. Many individuals have been successful at 
practicing both types of politics in their careers.

  But Senator McCain's success was the politics of hope, the politics 
of love, love of country and love of his fellow Americans. It carried 
him through the trials and difficulties that life brings one's way, 
both in his service to

[[Page H7917]]

his country in the United States Navy and as a prisoner of war.
  When he had the opportunity because of his status to leave the Hanoi 
Hilton early, he made it very clear he would not until every American 
prisoner of war left, and he suffered great torture as a result of 
that.
  The lessons in life that Senator John McCain learned were lessons 
that he tried to teach to all of us in his conduct as a public servant, 
in which he put public service among the highest levels of contribution 
that one can make to their country.
  So not only was he a role model for all of us, for Americans, but 
throughout the world. When we traveled in the Middle East, in Europe, 
my Congressman colleague, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, and I, who 
worked closely with our European colleagues, John McCain was sought 
after for advice, for understanding the body politic, what was 
happening in America, and how we could better work together with our 
European allies, and the values that we hold most dear, the values of 
human rights, the values of freedom of speech, the values of ensuring 
that we protect our democratic institutions.
  Senator John McCain really reflected the best that America has to 
offer, which is why he was so well respected around the world. When you 
went to countries in which you had autocrats and dictators and you had 
issues of human rights, he was always sought after by those who were 
oppressed, because there was, clearly, a sense of empathy that they 
understood that he had for them.
  So as I close, let me say that the tributes that we pay to him are 
small in comparison to what he gave to our country. The book that 
President John F. Kennedy wrote, ``Profiles in Courage,'' if there were 
to be a second book in the 21st century, clearly, Senator John McCain 
would be one of those individuals who, throughout his career, 
exemplified what it means to have profiles in courage in his conduct, 
in his daily life, in the practice of the politics that he led through 
example, which are lessons for all of us to learn.
  Senator John McCain, a grateful Nation can never, ever say thank you 
enough for all that you did and all that you gave. God bless you.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from California for his 
personal memories and tribute to Senator McCain.
  It is a pleasure now for me to yield to my friend from Florida (Mr. 
Diaz-Balart).
  Senator McCain, throughout his life, was such a great voice for our 
Bill of Rights, for liberty across the world, for the fight against 
communism during the Cold War, and for the fight for trade and 
leadership by the American people and our great country around the 
world.
  I think the same of my friend, Mario Diaz-Balart from Florida, who 
with his friend  Jim Costa helps lead our parliamentary dialogue 
between the Transatlantic Economic Council in the EU and the United 
States.
  I thank my friend, also a member of the Ways and Means Committee, for 
coming tonight and sharing his thoughts on Senator McCain.
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for allowing us, those 
of us who knew, worked with, admired John McCain, to have this moment, 
to have this time to honor and to remember and to, frankly, speak about 
someone who all of us admired so much.
  Senator John McCain was, as you have heard from everyone and from all 
of us who knew him and who had contact with him, he was a patriot and 
he was a great American hero. I am profoundly blessed to count this man 
as both a trusted colleague and a loyal friend.
  We have heard so many things about him today, tonight, because, 
again, of this wonderful moment that Mr. Hill has done for us here 
tonight, allowed us to do tonight.
  Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, Senator John McCain was an 
extraordinarily brave and noble man--a hero a dedicated husband, 
father, fighter pilot, and an amazing lawmaker. He endured and overcame 
unspeakable horrors as a POW, and as a lawmaker never ceased working 
for members of our armed forces and veterans. And on matters of 
principle and conviction, Senator McCain was fiercely independent, 
always willing--even eager--to bend into the wind and not with it.
  John McCain and I were colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs 
Committee when he was in the House. In fact we sat next to each other, 
and so I got to know him, and valued his intelligence and expertise. 
Then-Congressman McCain and I were very much in sync on supporting the 
administration's vigorous opposition to communism, rebuilding of the 
U.S. military, and its robust internationalism, as well as the re-
emergence of a principled commitment to human rights and defense of 
democracy as core principles of U.S. foreign policy.
  He vigorously defended the downtrodden, the underdog, the forgotten 
and disenfranchised, including the unborn. Already in these years on 
our committee, his willingness to do the right thing regardless of 
partisanship was a blessing to this country.
  My wife Marie and I will always cherish and deeply respect the 
incomparable Senator John McCain. Marie joined me and thousands of 
others at the National Cathedral last Saturday to say goodbye to this 
great patriot and American hero. All the tributes were extraordinarily 
moving, including those by Meghan McCain, and Presidents Bush and 
Obama.
  Our nation is deeply grateful for the sacrifice and service of John 
McCain., and our hearts and prayers are with Cindy, and with his entire 
family.

                          ____________________