[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 188 (Thursday, November 29, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7197-S7198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO DEAN HELLER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Now, on an entirely different matter, I am sorry to 
say it is time to begin offering thanks and farewells to Members whose 
Senate service will conclude at the end of the 115th Congress.
  Today, I would like to begin with our friend, the senior Senator from 
Nevada. It doesn't feel like much of an exaggeration to say that Dean 
Heller may have been destined for public service. I don't just mean his 
eagerness to serve or his outgoing personality. There were other signs. 
For example, one of the stops on his childhood paper route in Carson 
City was the Governor's mansion itself. Talk about early civic 
involvement.
  At every step of the way, from successful businessman to his local 
and statewide races, all the way here to the Capitol, Dean earned the 
respect of his neighbors and constituents by following the hard-working 
example set by his parents. His mother worked as a cook in a school 
cafeteria. His father was an auto mechanic who raced stock cars on the 
side. Their son grew up to be the only sitting Senator I would trust to 
replace my transmission.
  When most politicians use phrases like ``rolling up their sleeves'' 
and ``getting their hands dirty,'' they are usually referring to things 
like late-night negotiating or taking tough votes--in other words, more 
talking. Not Dean Heller, he means it literally. As Dean likes to say, 
here in Washington, during the week, he works for the people of Nevada, 
but at home, on the weekends, there he works for his wife Lynne on the 
ranch they keep up together.
  But let it not be said that even in the midst of hard labor, Dean 
isn't capable of multitasking. After all, sometimes official duties 
just can't wait. I have it on good authority that on one occasion Dean 
had to field a surprise phone call from President Obama on his cell 
while standing right in the middle of a ditch. Another time, he took a 
call from President Trump and talked business right there in the aisle 
of a home improvement store. Something about this image seems just 
right--not talking, not posturing, doing. That is Dean Heller; isn't 
it?

  He didn't come to Washington to court praise for lofty rhetoric or to 
become a TV star. He came here to do. In just 7 years, Dean has 
authored or helped to introduce 100 pieces of legislation that are now 
law.
  Perhaps first and foremost, he has built a reputation as one of the 
Senate's chief advocates for our veterans. Dean shares his home State 
with more than 200,000 men and women who have served our Nation, 
including one he calls ``Dad.''
  Keeping the promise of top-notch VA services across Nevada's 
widespread rural communities is no small task. The facilities in Reno, 
in particular, weren't always up to the job, but day in and day out, 
Dean has made it his mission to right the ship. As a member of the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee, he has fought to expand access to care, 
contributing key provisions to the VA MISSION Act and spearheading the 
21st Century Veterans Benefits Delivery Act. It is a legacy that is 
already making a difference for our veterans.
  But these are hardly the only victories Dean won for Nevada and for 
our Nation. He came to the Senate in 2011, representing a State that 
had been hit hard by the great recession and was trying hard to regain 
its footing. Nevada communities faced ballooning foreclosure rates and 
persistent unemployment. Fortunately, their new Senator was intent on 
hooking up the economic jumper cables and getting things humming once 
more.
  Dean has seized opportunities to champion an economic agenda that 
puts workers and job creators back in the driver's seat. He was a 
driving force behind the once-in-a-generation tax reform passed last 
December to put more

[[Page S7198]]

money in the pockets of working families. It is pouring a new 21st 
century foundation for American businesses to compete, win, and create 
more jobs right here at home.
  Today, Nevada is doing better, our Nation is flourishing, and Dean 
Heller was there every step of the way. He was especially instrumental 
in making sure that tax reform increased the child tax credit. Dean 
knew that working parents need that money more than the IRS does.
  Nevada veterans, Nevada workers, Nevada families--Dean never lost 
sight of the reason he came here to Washington. He has been a happy 
warrior here in the trenches, with a ready grin and an iron 
determination to do right by his friends and his neighbors.
  I also have it on good authority that seeing Dean in action back home 
in his natural habitat is truly a sight to behold. His joy at every 
conversation and every handshake around Carson City are palpable. 
Nevadans are Dean's people. They always have been, and he has always 
been theirs too.
  According to some of the staff who travel around the State with him, 
it is practically impossible to make any brief stops anywhere. At a 
fast-food restaurant, or a sporting goods store, or even a gas station, 
Dean would inevitably run into friends and set about swapping stories 
or Carson City inside jokes. On the rare occasions when Dean didn't 
know the proprietor or fellow customers--no trouble, no trouble--he 
would have a room full of new friends in about 3 minutes flat.
  I am told it never got old for the people around Dean to witness the 
energy he drew from his friends, neighbors, and constituents. He was 
delighted to be one of them and honored to be their employee--``a man 
of the people''--not a cliche, in this case, a reality.
  You don't need to take my word for it. I hear there is objective 
evidence out there, photographs from the Nevada Day Parade in Carson 
City. Suffice it to say it takes a certain kind of person to steal the 
show, riding horseback, dressed head to toe in full western regalia, 
something like John Wayne. It is no wonder his grandkids--Brielle, 
Zachary, and Ava--know him as ``Duke.''
  Now, his boss, Lynne, might very well have put him up to it. I hear 
she rides right there alongside him. But Dean is no newcomer to the 
parade. In fact, it is the very same parade he marched in as a Scout 
years ago.
  If you read that story in a book, you would think it was almost too 
earnest and too all-American to be true, but that is Dean Heller. He is 
the paper boy who started out delivering the headlines and wound up 
making the headlines, the Senator who still saddles up for the same 
parade from his childhood memories, one of Nevada's favorite sons and a 
dedicated servant of the entire Silver State.
  Dean's colleagues are really sorry to see him go. For a leader with 
this much heart and this much talent, any departure would feel 
premature. This one certainly does, but I doubt Dean will have trouble 
finding good uses for a little more spare time. I know he and Lynne 
must be looking forward to saddling up their horses and setting out for 
the Sierras a little more often than they have been able to lately, and 
I hear he could use a little bit of rehearsal time before he leads the 
Heller family band through its repertoire of Christmas carols this 
year--lead trombone. Lead trombone is no laughing matter. Maybe he will 
even find time to get back in the driver's seat for a race or two.
  So whatever it is that Dean does next--whatever it is--he should take 
with him great pride in all he has accomplished here in a policy legacy 
that will continue lifting up our Nation's veterans, workers, and 
middle-class families literally for years and years to come, and the 
sincere best wishes of the friends he has made here in this Chamber for 
health, happiness, and every future success for himself, for Lynne, and 
for their entire lovely family.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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