[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7889-S7890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DEPARTING SENATORS

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I have already given speeches in this 
Chamber about my four friends, departing Democratic colleagues, 
Senators Heitkamp, McCaskill, Nelson, and Donnelly. Now I rise to 
recognize my Republican colleagues who are leaving the Senate.
  Let me start with Orrin Hatch, who is truly one of a kind.
  Out of 100 Senators, none of us can say that our great-grandfather 
founded the town of Vernal, UT, home of the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo. 
None of us can say that we served as a Mormon bishop or that we started 
off working as a janitor to pay for school and then went on to become 
the most senior Republican in the U.S. Senate.
  None of us can say that we moonlight as a singer, songwriter, and 
famed lyricist, whose catalogue includes the classics: ``Heal Our 
Land,'' ``Eight Days of Hanukkah,'' and his ode to Manhattan, ``Skatin' 
with My Baby.'' Orrin Hatch's songs have been featured in the movies 
``Oceans 12'' and ``Stuart Little 2.''
  While Senator Hatch takes pride in all of his accomplishments, I know 
that he is proudest of his family: his wife, Elaine; their six 
children; 23 grandchildren; and 24 great-grandchildren.
  Senator Hatch and I have worked together for a long period of time. 
He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976, and I also got my 
start in elected life that year as the secretary-treasurer of my 10th 
grade high school class. Washingtonian Magazine once named us the two 
Senators least likely to get into a scandal, which I assume includes 
with each other.
  We are both members of the Senate prayer group. One time I will never 
forget was when he was speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast and 
his phone started ringing and he had to improvise in front of the 
entire National Prayer Breakfast. He said that God was calling him with 
prayer advice as he answered the cell phone.
  Most of all, we have teamed up on many issues that matter to the 
American people. We are cochairs of the Rare Disease Caucus.
  We have helped to make our schools safer just this spring by adding 
$1 million to improve school security. We led a bipartisan bill that 
was passed unanimously in this Chamber, and it was signed into law.
  We worked together to restore the integrity to our patent system.
  He also has been a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, 
something we need more of in this Chamber.
  I will always be grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with 
Senator Hatch, someone who has dedicated his life to serving his State 
and country for more than 40 years.
  I also want to honor the service of my colleague from Arizona, 
Senator Jeff Flake, whom I have truly enjoyed working with during our 
time together in the Senate.
  Jeff has never invited me to travel with him to a deserted island, as 
he did with Senator Heinrich, but we did once stay with Jeff and his 
wife, Cheryl, at John and Cindy McCain's ranch, and let's just say it 
had a few more amenities than he had on the island with Senator 
Heinrich.
  During that memorable visit to Sedona, I saw firsthand how dedicated 
Jeff is to his family. I remember how early he got up one morning to 
travel to his son Tanner's track meet. That afternoon he actually sent 
me a photo of Tanner taken after he had won the event.
  I also have seen how much he loves his home State. At heart, he is a 
fifth-generation Arizonan, one of 11 kids who grew up on a cattle ranch 
in the town of Snowflake. That land had first been owned by his great-
great-grandfather, who had come to Arizona in 1878, and then it was 
passed down generation to generation.
  I learned a lot about the Flake family history through Jeff's book, 
which I once read in its entirety on Christmas Day. What I most 
remember from that book was that growing up, Jeff's family had a card 
on the refrigerator, and this is what it said: ``Assume the best. Look 
for the good.''
  It is that unshakeable sense of optimism and faith in the decency of 
other people that Senator Flake has brought to the U.S. Senate. He has 
been willing to work across the aisle to do what he thinks is right, 
even when it has sometimes meant breaking with his own party.
  Jeff knows what is at stake, for instance, with immigration reform. 
He wrote in his book: ``From a very young age in ranch country, you get 
to know immigrants intimately and honestly'' and you know ``how 
indispensable they are to making things work in America.''
  It is clear that those lessons have stayed with him. I have seen it 
as Jeff has worked to build bipartisan consensus on immigration issues, 
reaching across the aisle to find a solution to try to protect our 
Dreamers.
  I have seen it when we joined together to introduce a resolution, the 
two of us, recognizing the contributions of Muslim Americans. That 
resolution passed the Senate because Jeff Flake was willing to 
cosponsor it with me.
  I have seen these values as Senator Flake has worked with a 
bipartisan group of us to normalize relations with Cuba. This 
commitment dates back decades to his earlier experience in building 
democracy in Namibia. So when President Obama took up the cause of 
Cuba, Jeff did not hesitate to lend his support, and together Senator 
Flake and I led the bill to lift the embargo on Cuba, along with 
Senators Enzi, Leahy, and many others.
  Jeff's voice has been particularly needed lately in the face of grave 
threats to our democracy and the rule of law. He has been a strong 
advocate for this bipartisan legislation that the Senate Judiciary 
Committee passed to simply protect the work of the special counsel, and 
he has taken a stand to try to ensure that the bill gets a vote on the 
Senate floor.
  As a daughter of a journalist, I also deeply appreciate Senator 
Flake's leadership on behalf of a free press, which is essential to our 
democracy.
  At a time when journalists are under attack, when reporters are 
risking and losing their lives and the President is calling them ``the 
enemy of the people,'' it has never been more important for us to speak 
out for the First Amendment. So when Jeff Flake took to the Senate 
floor in support of freedom of the press earlier this year, I was proud 
to speak after him.
  While Jeff will be so missed in the Senate, I have no doubt that he 
will

[[Page S7890]]

continue to use his strong voice on behalf of the issues he cares 
about, on behalf of his State and our country, which he has served so 
well.
  Also, Senator Corker. Senator Corker and I were elected to the Senate 
at the same time in 2006. He was the only Republican Senator in our 
incoming class. I see Senator Cardin here in the Chamber; he was also a 
Member of that class. We all have remained friends with Senator Corker 
over the years. I will tell you that Senator Corker never misses 
Senator McCaskill's annual chili party. He has been very good to us, 
and we have worked together for years.
  Before becoming a Senator, Bob Corker had two previous experiences as 
an elected official. He was the mayor of Chattanooga and the president 
of a high school class. He claims that he did not even have to campaign 
for that job. Here is what he said: ``I just woke up one day and was 
president.'' That is not how it usually works in politics.
  It turns out that Bob's roots were actually, of course, in business. 
He saved up $8,000 to start his own construction company at age 25 and 
then expanded it to 17 other States, and he has brought this 
commonsense business background to tackle difficult problems head-on, 
while always calling it as he sees it.
  We have seen that in his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations 
Committee, where Bob has spoken up to defend the values that define 
America, including strongly stating that he felt this Chamber and the 
administration had to do more in response to the murder of journalist 
Jamal Khashoggi.
  We have seen it as Senator Corker has worked to strengthen our 
alliances. I can tell you, when I was having trouble getting the 
nominees to be Ambassadors to Sweden and Norway through the Congress 
last Congress, which is very important in my State with its 
Scandinavian roots, I knew that I could count on his support.
  We have seen it in his efforts to combat human trafficking, an issue 
I also care deeply about.
  Bob has so much to be proud of at the end of his chapter of public 
service and begins another back home in Tennessee.
  Finally, I want to recognize my friend and colleague, Senator Dean 
Heller of Nevada.
  Dean has dedicated so much of his life to public service on behalf of 
his State--in Nevada's legislature, as secretary of state, in Congress, 
and in the U.S. Senate.
  His family moved to Nevada when he was only 9 months old. As the son 
of an auto mechanic and a school cook, he has often said that he is 
likely one of the only Senators who can change your oil and fix your 
transmission.
  Nevada is obviously a State with no shortage of tourism, and Dean has 
worked with me as cochairs of the tourism caucus to promote tourism 
across our entire country. He understands that when we increase 
tourism, we not only create jobs and strengthen our economy, we also 
strengthen our alliances and export our values.
  It is that same philosophy that is behind his efforts, along with 
Senator Flake who is here in this Chamber, to normalize relations with 
Cuba. Dean and I traveled to Cuba, along with Senator Flake, with 
President Obama, and I deeply appreciated his commitment, as well as 
Senator Flake's and others, to improving the relationship between our 
countries and opening up new opportunities for American businesses.
  I have valued our time together on the Commerce Committee, where we 
led bills that passed and were signed into law regarding more women 
getting into science, technology, engineering, and math at NASA. We are 
proud that both bills were signed into law.
  I have enjoyed serving with Dean Heller in the U.S. Senate, and I 
thank him for his service.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

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