[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 196 (Wednesday, December 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7477-S7480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FAREWELL TO THE SENATE

  Mr. NELSON. Madam President, this is my farewell speech, and I 
thought it would do me well to think back to the very first speech I 
gave on the floor--my maiden speech.
  My maiden speech was about a couple of months after my first time 
being sworn in. I had waited back then--this is 18 years ago. It was 
appropriate for freshmen Senators to wait a while, don't speak up right 
away. So I waited 2 or 3 months until it felt like it was the 
appropriate time, and I remember there was nobody out here. It was an 
empty Chamber. I picked a topic of the day. I think we were trying to 
balance the budget at the time--something that 18 years later we are 
still trying to do.
  Then, in the course of the speech, I mentioned that it was my maiden 
speech. Nobody was out here except the Presiding Officer. All of a 
sudden, those doors swung open, and right then and there, in strides 
Senator Robert Byrd. I was standing at a desk over there on the other 
side, and Senator Byrd's seat was either here or here. So I finished my 
speech and he said: Will the Senator from Florida yield?
  I said: Of course, I will yield.
  Senator Byrd, for 30 minutes, gave an oration on the history of 
maiden speeches in the Senate. So you can imagine, nothing I said was 
memorable, but it was certainly memorable to this Senator that all of a 
sudden I would be treated to the corporate knowledge from one of the 
lions of the Senate in looking back on the history of this body.
  I wanted you to know I am a Florida boy. My family came to Florida 
from Denmark in 1829. So many people come to Florida from the 
Northeast. Well, my great-great-grandfather was a sailor--a teenager on 
a sailing ship--and he ended up in New York in a barroom brawl. He was 
frightened that he was going to be arrested, so he ran to hide. He ran 
down to the wharf. He hid in a ship, and the ship cast off for Port St. 
Joe, FL, in 1829. So you see, my family came to Florida from New York 
also.
  Five generations--on the other side of the family, I have a deed 
signed by Woodrow Wilson in 1917 to my grandparents after they had 
worked the land for the required 4 years. Under the Homestead Act, the 
government would deed you 160 acres of land. It is the act that pushed 
the frontier so much farther into the hinterlands, and we especially 
think of it westward, but that was also southward.
  That 160 acres of land is, today, in the north end of the space 
shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center. I cannot imagine, in that 
4-year period, my grandparents swatting mosquitos and fending off 
alligators and rattlesnakes, scratching out a living they could survive 
on out of the hard earth of the land. Yet that is the hardy stock from 
which this Senator comes.
  Grace and I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. I 
stand before you today, and I don't think anyone could have been more 
blessed. It is not easy when you take your leave from the people you 
love and the work you love, and it causes a time of intense reflection.
  So I reflected back to the time in late 1985 and a series of events 
over the course of the next few weeks. It was a tense time in the first 
launch attempt of the 24th flight of the space shuttle. We went down to 
T-minus 8 seconds. I had braced my body for the ignition of the main 
engines at T-minus 6.6, and all of a sudden I heard them calling over 
the intercom: We stopped the count. We are recycling.
  That launch was scrubbed that day. There was an indication by a 
sensor that a gimbaling motor on the thrusters of the solid rocket 
boosters was malfunctioning. Had that been the case, 9 seconds later, 
we would not be going straight up. We would have been cartwheeled.
  So we were let off for Christmas, came back into quarantine in the 
latter part of December, and tried the next launch attempt, only to go 
down to 31 seconds, and the count stopped. An alert supervisor on the 
consoles of the launch center had noticed the locks line was getting 
too cold. They checked, and a mistaken override of the computer had 
occurred and 18,000 pounds of liquid oxygen had been drained. Had we 
launched 31 seconds later, we would not have had enough fuel to get to 
orbit, and it would have taken the greatest ability of our commander, 
Navy Captain--now retired--Robert Gibson, to land a fully loaded 
spacecraft on a short runway at Dakar, Senegal, or Moron, Spain.
  So we tried the third time. This time, the count was called off for 
some external reason. Each of these times, we were in the spacecraft 
strapped in, ready to go. At this point, I think the weather was not 
cooperating over in Africa and Spain. You have to have clear skies 
there in case you get into that transatlantic abort. So it was called 
off.
  Well, that night, when they drained the tanks, they found that a 
temperature probe on the ground support equipment had flowed through 
the oxygen line and flowed into the vehicle and was stuck in a prevalve 
right next to one of the three main engines. Had we launched that 
morning--in this case, the third try--we would have gotten to orbit, it 
would have been time for the main engine cut off, and one of the three 
engines would not have cut off. It would have blown the rear end of the 
orbiter apart.
  A few days later--it was a Friday--we tried for the fourth time. This 
time we are in the middle of a driving Florida rainstorm. We ran from 
the crew van to the launch tower to get into the elevator and out of 
the pouring rain. We were strapped in, ready to go, waiting for a hole 
to punch through. Now, the rainstorm had turned into a driving Florida 
lightning storm, and we were sitting on top of all that liquid 
hydrogen. They finally called off the launch the fourth try.
  The fifth try was a Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day. We 
launched into an almost flawless 6-day mission,

[[Page S7478]]

only to return to Earth, and 10 days later, the Challenger launched and 
blew up high in the Florida sky, under circumstances of cold weather 
that almost exactly duplicated the first launch attempt back on 
December 19.
  Intense reflection. Why was I spared? Now, upon intense reflection, I 
think I am beginning to see because it has been the great honor of my 
life to serve our country and the people of Florida--first in the Army, 
then in the State legislature, then in the Congress, then a State 
treasurer, and now, 18 years as Senator.
  I have tried to serve our country admirably and with integrity 
because I believe a public office is a public trust. Through this 
journey, I have been so fortunate to have experienced so many neat 
corners of this country that all of us here love.
  I have seen the Sun shine through the pine trees, the oaks, and the 
orange groves of Florida. I have hunted alligators and pythons in the 
Everglades. I have jogged the sands of just about every Florida beach 
from Pensacola to the Keys.
  Of course, I strapped into a rocket, weighing 4\1/2\ million pounds, 
to launch to the heavens and see our planet from a way that very few 
others have. You have heard me talk about that as I describe our 
environment and how beautiful this planet is from the window of a 
spacecraft.
  Of course, these experiences in this country--the American people, 
every one of us and our fellow citizens, the teachers, the soldiers, 
the factory workers, the moms, the dads, the students, the farmers, 
those are the ones who have inspired me to dedicate a life to public 
service. Those folks have been my strength as they are often your 
strength. It is the American people who have kept me going for the past 
46 years of public service.

  While I have experienced the highs and lows of serving in the Senate, 
it is often the small, unnoticed steps toward progress that have made 
this journey worthwhile. I am most happy with some of the work that has 
been done to help individuals. I want to mention just a few.
  To Christine Levinson and her family, we have worked tirelessly to 
bring Bob Levinson home. I have come to this floor for 11 years and 
said that if Iran does not have Bob, they know where to find him. It is 
our responsibility to see that Bob--a man who served this country in 
the FBI for 30 years--is finally reunited with his wife and seven 
children and grandchildren.
  In another example, it has been a pleasure to work with Rochelle 
Hamm, of Jacksonville, and with the families of the 33 crew members of 
the El Faro who perished at sea when their cargo ship sank while they 
sailed into the path of a hurricane in 2015. As a result of that 
terrible tragedy, we were able to enact into law key maritime safety 
reforms, including requiring oceangoing vessels to be outfitted with 
distress beacons and equipment to locate lost seafarers.
  There are many ways to get things done around here. Sometimes it 
requires taking the bully pulpit and confronting people to correct an 
injustice. You will notice, as I said, that these are often little 
things that people don't notice.
  Take the case of Bob ``Peach Head'' Mitchell, of Tampa, who was a 
part of the Negro leagues of baseball. For years, he fought to get 
Major League Baseball to provide compensation to former Negro leagues 
ballplayers, who were excluded from the majors because of their race. 
Yet they were some of the best players.
  When Jackie Robinson integrated the majors in 1947, the rest of the 
majors were not integrated until 1959. All of those Negro leagues 
players had still been playing and had never gotten the compensation. 
It took 3 years of cajoling and haranguing to get the Major League 
Baseball Commissioner to do the right thing and give the elderly former 
ballplayers their due.
  Sam Snow also comes to mind, who, for most of his life, had paid a 
terrible price for the injustice done when the Army had wrongfully 
convicted him and 27 other Black soldiers who had participated in a 
1944 riot in Seattle that had resulted in the lynching of an Italian 
prisoner of war. Some decades later, when the Army had finally admitted 
its mistake, it had refused to give those soldiers compensation for 
their lost pay and for the time they had spent in prison. Once I heard 
about it, I kept on the Army until it paid the veterans their back pay 
plus interest.
  We all deal in legislation. As for the business of legislation, think 
about some of the things that we wrote.
  We in Florida wrote legislation to protect Florida's beaches, our 
tourism-driven economy, and our wildlife from the dangers of offshore 
oil drilling. We, the Democratic caucus, passed groundbreaking 
legislation that medically insured 22 million Americans in this 
country. In my State, it was over 1.7 million people. We ensured that 
they had healthcare and health insurance. Interestingly, because of our 
protecting preexisting conditions coverage, just in the State of 
Florida alone, 8 million people who have preexisting conditions are 
protected because of the law. It also eliminated the lifetime caps on 
coverage.
  You know the fights that we have had ever since we started that day 
on the Finance Committee. It was after the dog days of August, when you 
couldn't have a townhall meeting in 2009 because of the disruptions. In 
September, we on the Finance Committee wrote that bill. It took every 
member of the Democratic caucus--60 strong then--to be able to pass it. 
Now millions and millions of people have health insurance who have 
never had it before, and untold millions more who have preexisting 
conditions are protected.
  We wrote the blueprint that has reinvigorated our space program and 
brought new space companies and high-paying jobs to our country and to 
Florida. In our lifetime, we are going to see humankind set foot on 
other celestial bodies besides the Moon--legislation that could not 
have been passed without there having been a bipartisan effort.
  We fought to help folks get the resources they needed to recover in 
the aftermath of the major hurricanes that savaged people's lives and 
property. We worked to make higher education more affordable by capping 
interest rates on student loans. We also secured billions of dollars in 
funding for projects all over America to preserve the environment and 
to help restore--and it is restoring--Florida's environmental treasure, 
the Everglades. The list goes on and on.
  The setbacks temper the successes in that we have seen constant 
attempts to disenfranchise voters and to make it more difficult for all 
Americans to have their voices heard at the ballot box. Then, of 
course, the Court's 2010 decision opened the floodgates and allowed the 
wealthiest Americans to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence 
our elections and corrupt our democracy.
  Also, what in the world has happened to civility and to humility in 
our Nation's public discourse? Where are our servant leaders who seek 
to serve instead of to be served?
  So we still have much work to do. We need now, more than ever, to 
focus on building the kind of relationships here in Washington that can 
solve the great problems that our Nation faces. I caution our 
colleagues and caution those who will join this body to resist the 
pulls of partisan acrimony and the forces that seek to divide us. 
Tribalism is our problem, and if not corrected, it is going to take our 
country down.
  I know I am just another Senator who is saying what a lot of Senators 
who are departing are saying. We all here remember--right over at that 
desk there--John McCain, in one of his last Senate addresses during 
which he could stand, saying the same thing.
  Some of my fondest memories in the Senate have been with those who 
have sat on the other side of that center aisle. Because of this, I 
know that while Republicans and Democrats may disagree on policy, we 
have a lot to unify us in our values and principles that we share. My 
parting words are that there is no greater challenge for this Senate 
than to have the moral courage to choose country over party or over 
power, to choose justice for all instead of justice for the few, and to 
give others respect instead of condemnation.
  Those of us who are fortunate enough to serve in this Senate are also 
confronted daily by a set of obligations that we have when we take on 
this title of U.S. Senator.
  We have an obligation to the people of this Nation to do everything 
in our

[[Page S7479]]

power to uphold the country's democratic institutions and to insist 
that the truth guide our public discussions even if doing so comes at 
the cost of short-term political loss. As Senators, we have been 
uniquely given the responsibility to provide advice and consent to the 
executive branch, and we must take this charge seriously and with 
independence from another branch. We must uphold the rule of law. In 
doing so, we must affirm that no one person is above the law.
  There are a great many challenges that our country faces. I call upon 
all of you who serve in this Senate to act with moral courage when 
these obligations come calling in the future.
  As I depart, I am putting my trust in you. I trust you to work on 
behalf of the countless numbers who do not have a voice in this 
Chamber. I count on you to give a voice to our brothers and sisters in 
Puerto Rico, who are long overdue for representation. I trust you will 
fight to make healthcare more accessible and more cost-effective, keep 
rigs off of our coasts, and make higher education more affordable for 
everyone. I trust you will work to protect our environment from 
pollution and will continue the restoration of our Everglades. Above 
all, I trust you will act with integrity in uniting Americans for the 
common wheel.
  For the people of America, you in this Senate must be a beacon of 
light at a time when it seems that darkness is increasingly gathering 
in our politics. You must remember that your voices and your actions 
will help to shape the future. You have the power to make our discourse 
more civil and to create change.
  To our staff, both in the office and the Commerce Committee, you all 
are like family. You are like family to Grace and me, and I am grateful 
for the work you do day in and day out for the people of Florida. You 
are all hard-working. You are dedicated. You are loyal public servants. 
None of what we do around here would be possible were it not for each 
of you.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that a list of all staffers 
who have been a part of our Senate family over these 18 years be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson Past and Present Staff, Fellows & Detailees

       Scott Aaronson, Alphanso Adams, Todd Adams, Meeran Ahn, 
     Susie Ahn, Elizabeth Ahrens, Amy Akiyama, Stacey Albert, 
     Sasha Albohm, Ihab Al-Dammagh, Artem Alekseev, Katherine 
     Alexander, Amir Al-Kourainy, Kerry Allen, Jaime Allentuck, 
     Amela Alomerovic, Sherry Alstatt, Melissa Alvarado, Digna 
     Alvarez, Shahra Anderson.
       Michael Anthony, Martine Apodaca, Barbara Arthur, Hazeen 
     Ashby, Jill Ashton, Sheri Atkins, Rebecca Autrey, Yvonne 
     Baker, Disha Banik, Jacquelyn Bannister, Michael Barbanera, 
     Devon Barnhart, Jacob Barr, Matt Barranca, Jason Barrett, 
     Michelle Barth, Peter Batty, Georges Bauer, Sean Beaudet, 
     Anna Beecher.
       DaMara Belson, Matthew Benham, Jeffery Benson, Kathleen 
     Benway, Nicole Berckes, Lauren Berger, Owen Berger, Katherine 
     Bergh, Hernan Betancourt, Jed Bhuta, LaWanda Billingslea, 
     Renae Black, Danny Blum, Shawn Bone, Elizabeth Borders, Alex 
     Borkholder, John Branscome, Lisa Brett, Jonathan Brill, Abbey 
     Brown.
       Alea Brown, Alicia Brown, Angela Brown, Celeste Brown, Ryan 
     Brown, Ken Brummel-Smith, Kevin Brumback, Tiffany Bryant, 
     Andrea Buck, Scott Bunce, Joy Burkey, Douglas Bush, Philip 
     Bye, Edly Calderon, Carrie Callaghan, Douglas Campbell, 
     Lesley Campos, Christopher Caple, Catherine Carabine, Marie 
     Carr.
       Jessie Caudill, Jonathan Caverley, Kassandra Cerveny, 
     Amanda Chadwick, Cheryl Chadwick, Richard Duane Chambers, Tom 
     Chapman, Amanda Cherrin, Michael Chesnut, Courtney Chiles, 
     Mary Chiles, Aurelia Chis, Myron Chivis, Taylor Christy, 
     Courtney Christian, Randy Clarke, Sally Cluthe, Andrew 
     Coates, Danielle Cohen, Rodrick Coleman.
       Seth Collins, Julia Colvin, Mary Conklin Callow, James 
     Connell, Peter Contostavlos, Jonathan Cooper, William Couch, 
     Alec Coutroulis, Ana Cruz, Karen Cully, Michael Cully, 
     Nicholas Cummings, Patricia Curran, Amin Cyntje, Roy Dalton, 
     Paul Damphousse, Julie Dashiell, Holly Davenport, Joseph 
     Davenport, Sherry Davich.
       William Davich, Nona Dawson, Christopher Day, Edward Dean, 
     Alison DeBose, Frank DeToma, Binita Devkota, Patrick 
     DiBattista, Michael Dodson, Rachael Dollar, Ellen Doneski, 
     Taylor Downs, Amy Drummond, Amanda Dugan, Martee Duhaney, 
     Kate Dumouchel, Kirstin Dunham, Thomas Dunn, Shaun Easley, 
     Casey Elbare.
       Joel Eskovitz, Alexander Fabiszewski, Ryan Farris, Jeffrey 
     Fatora, Monica Fernandez, Amanda Figueroa, Brandon Fisher, 
     Stephen Fitzmaurice, Clare Flannery, John Flynn, Laura 
     Forero, Janet Forlini, Erika Frantz, Melissa Fritsch, Mary 
     Fritz, Scott Fuhrman, Erica Fuller, Christian Tamotsu Fjeld, 
     Robert Gatehouse, Denton Gibson.
       Celia Gisleson, David Gittess, Treon Glenn, Laura Glickman, 
     Gregory Goddard, Ruben Goddard Jr., Laila Goharioon, Adam 
     Goldberg, Jonathan Goldman, Sara Gonzalez-Rothi, Ioana 
     Gorecki, Jasmine Govan, Artena Greene, Ryan Grindler, 
     Alexandra Grosswald, Jessica Gruse, Mary Guenther, Brendan 
     Guess, Philip Guire, Bryan Gulley.
       Peggy Gustave, LeAnna Gutierrez, Jessica Hafer, Daniel 
     Hague, Kimberly Hall, Shawn Hall, Patrick Hanley, Christine 
     Hanson, Michael Hardaway, Katherine Hardeman, Jonathan Hardy, 
     Courtnie Harris, Marcia Harris, Bryan Harrison, Caitlin Hart, 
     Erin Hatch Neal, Nathanael Hauptkorn, Cathy Haverstock, 
     Hilary Haycock, Alexia Heathcock.
       Michael Henry, Lauren Herold, Mary Hester, Neal Higgins, 
     Gretchen Hitchner, Andrew Holik, Tamara Holliday, Mary Tyler 
     Holmes, Maria Honeycutt, Jason Hopkins, Aysha House, Felipe 
     Hoyos, Robert Hubbard, Sharon Hudson-Dean, Andrea Hughes, 
     Meghan Hunt, William Hupp, Dan Hurd, Eisele Ibarra, Jenny 
     Jacobs.
       Kalilah Jamall, Amy Jasperson, Naveed Jazayeri, Deborah 
     Johann, William Johnston, Charlie Joughin, Madeline Joyce, 
     Katy Kale, Erik Kamrath, Brandon Kaufman, Kelly Keefe, Matt 
     Kelly, Ryan Kent, Christina Kilgo, Grace Kim, Oliver Kim, 
     Elizabeth King, Jena Kingery, Sheril Kirshenbaum, Kenneth 
     Kirton.
       Sarah Kleinman, Rachel Kline, Jesse Knapp, Harry Knight, 
     Dolly Kobernat, Nancy Koepke, Mark Kopelman, Rhoda Krause, 
     Pamela Krauss, Jessica Lamb, Rebecca Lange, Matt Lawrence, 
     Willowstine Lawson, Christopher Leacock, Carissa Lewis, 
     Jeffrey Lewis, Julia Lee, Alexandra Lehson, Reginal Leichty, 
     Jason Lemons.
       Maria Lewis, Melissa Lewis, Andrew Lievense, Stephen Liles, 
     Lauren Linsmayer, Kim Lipsky, Cynthia Lodge, Sue Loftin, 
     Christopher Long, Juan Lopez, Kimberly Luckey, Robert Luke, 
     Maureen Luna-Long, Greta Lundeberg, Anthony Lynn, Patricia 
     Lynn, Doug MacIvor, Joshua Maddock, Peder Magee, Jillian 
     Maggard.
       Christina Mahoney, Keenan Mahoney, Corey Malmgren, Carlos 
     Mancero, Josh Manning, Josiah Manzo, Arthur Maples, Lisa 
     Marshall, Tom Marvit, John Maskornick, Ryan Matthews, Derek 
     Mattioli, Connor Mautner, Leandra McComas, Ryan McCormick, 
     Elena McCullough, Cornelius McFadden, Meredith McFadden, 
     Carla McGarvey, Diana McGee.
       Michelle McGovern, Jacqueline McGuinness, Candise McKeiver, 
     Tyrik McKeiver, Daniel McLaughlin, Kenneth Meadows, Taleen 
     Mekhdjavakian, Kathryn Melcher, Sydney Mengel, Jonathan 
     Merlis, Stephanie Mickle, Deborah Miller, Helen Miller, 
     Connie Mirrop, Anum Mirza, David Mitchell, Jack Mitchell, 
     Pete Mitchell, Matthew Montgomery, Anne Morgan.
       Patrice Morgan, Brenda-Lea Morrison, Carissa Moss, Lydia 
     Mount, Colin Mueller, Joanelle Mulrain, Erin Strother Murray, 
     Jonathan Murray, Courtney Mursell, Dorkina Myrick, Nadia 
     Naviwala, Constantinos Nicolaidis, Beth Nielson, Sheila Nix, 
     Brian No, Anna Normand, Mathew Nosanchuk, Mary O'Bannon, 
     Clint Odom, Ryan Orgera.
       Gilberto Osorio, Madeline Otto, Danny Pang, Steven Parker, 
     Loren Parra, Kandi Parsons, Jeremy Parsons, Sydney Paul, 
     Michael Pedersen, Brittany Penberthy, Christos Perez, Grace 
     Pettus, Theresa Pezzeminti, Ingrid Piedrahita, Yariv Pierce, 
     Hayley Pierre, Macline Pierre, Christian Pierre-Canel, 
     Katherine Platt, Laura Ponto.
       Karlee Popken, Sandeep Prasanna, Lizy Price, Matthew Price, 
     Don Pride, Rachel Pryor, Samantha Purcell-Musgrave, Jean 
     Quillo, Susan Perez Quinn, Shannon Rainey, Kaitlin Ramirez, 
     Marcia Randolph, Matthew Rankin, Dawn Ratliff Ebony Reddick, 
     Ilka Regino, Blair Reinarman, Timothy Rennie, Alexandra 
     Riley, Jose Rincon.
       Jessica Ritter, Samuel Ritzman, Valeria Rivadeneira, 
     Charmaine Robinson, Kimberly Robinson, Laura Rodriguez, 
     Maritza Rodriguez, Josie Rodriquez, Emily Rogers, Jason 
     Rosenbaum, Anna Marie Ross, Katherine Ross, Kathleen 
     Rubinger, Charles Runfola III, Nicholas Russell, Jessica 
     Russo, Timothy Ryder, Benjamin Sack, Joshua Samek, Sheron 
     Samuels.
       David Sanchez, Sara Sanders, Edda Santiago, Jeff 
     Scarpiello, Eugene Schlesinger, Grant Schnell, Michael Seely, 
     Robert Seibert, Seth Seifman, Kelda Senior, Lea Shanley, 
     Daniel Shapiro, Ben Sharpe, Lauren Sher, Kim Silverman, Karri 
     Simpson, Rozann Skozen, Mara Sloan, Stacey Smith, Tiffany 
     Smith.
       Julia Snouck-Hurgronje, Christopher Snow, Nathaniel Sobel, 
     Tristan Sola, Jennifer Solomon, Joseph Sophie, Connor 
     Sorenson, Luis Soria, Jaime Soto, Michael Sozan, Robert 
     Spasovski, Sue Speer, Maria Speiser, Stephen Stadius, Tim 
     Standaert, Marin Stein, William Stein, Sean Stewart, Caroline 
     Stonecipher, Christine Stowe.
       Maria Stratienko, Brenda Strickland, Jennifer Suarez, 
     William Sutey, Mohsin Syed, Charles Teague, Mary Templeton, 
     Caroline Tess, Usha Tewari, Matthew Thomas, Petrina Thomas, 
     Chris Thompson, Kareen Thompson, Kathryn Thorp, Kyle Thorp, 
     Vanessa Thorrington, Monica Thurmond, Alexandre Tiersky, 
     Alicia Tighe, Abigail Tinsley.

[[Page S7480]]

       Bradley Torppey, Rebekah Torres, Joseph Towey, Wilson 
     Trawick, David Troha, Yennie Tse, Mark Tucker, Alexander 
     Tureman, Aprill Turner, Mayra Uribe, Maya Vaidya, Jackie 
     Valladares, Mark Van Arnam, Jr., Mark Van Arnam, William 
     Vaughan, Emilio Vazquez, Rupa Venkatesh, Darren Vierday, 
     Pedro Villa, Patricia Wagner.
       Carlie Waibel, Clarey Walker, Candace Walls, Dorothy Walsh, 
     Mary Walsh, Alyssa Wang, Annie Wang, Kimberley Warden, 
     Heather Wells, Shawn Whiteside, Laurence Wildgoose, Anthony 
     Williams, Grant Williams, Matthew Williams, Michael 
     Williamson, Kelsey Wilson, Desiree Wineland, Colleen 
     Winstanley, Jennie Witherspoon, Joanne Woerner, Simone Wood, 
     Brent Woolfork, Sue Wright, Muneera Zaineldeen.

  Mr. NELSON. To my wife Grace and my children Bill and Nan Ellen, I am 
so grateful for the support you have provided throughout the years. The 
journey has been a joy.
  I leave this Senate today filled with hope for the future and the 
fondest memories of my fellowship with great friends here, but I admit, 
it is hard to leave the friends and the work I love. I intend to keep 
fighting for all I have talked about in this short, final speech, and I 
intend to keep fighting for Florida.
  When it comes down to it, I am just a country boy who has loved 
serving my State and our country for all of my life. It has been an 
incredible honor.
  I yield the floor.
  (Applause, Senators rising.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.

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