[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO BILL NELSON

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, today I wish to pay tribute to my 
colleague, Senator Bill Nelson, who will leave the Senate after 18 
years of service in the Senate and over 40 years as a public official 
in the State of Florida.
  Abigail Adams once asked, ``If we do not lay out ourselves in the 
service of mankind whom should we serve?'' Throughout his career, 
Senator Nelson worked to make life better for the people of Florida and 
the United States.
  Florida and Pennsylvania share a distinction in having among the 
largest percentage of seniors in their States and therefore millions of 
Medicare beneficiaries. Through his work on the Finance Committee, 
Senator Nelson pushed to guarantee that Medicare provided quality care 
to our seniors and people with disabilities. Senator Nelson worked 
every day to ensure that our government kept the original promise 
President Johnson made in 1965 to guarantee quality, affordable 
healthcare for beneficiaries.
  Florida has a coastline of 1,350 miles, and Bill Nelson understood 
that the beaches and the oceans needed to be protected from offshore 
drilling and pollution. Current and future generations of Floridians 
and others who visit the State will enjoy the benefits of Senator 
Nelson's work in fighting to maintain and enhance those protections.
  Senator Nelson has also been a leader in the areas of science and 
space. As a former astronaut who journeyed into space in 1986 on the 
space shuttle Columbia, Senator Nelson understood the importance of 
exploration and discovery and never stopped imagining what is possible.
  We will miss Senator Nelson in this Chamber, and we thank him for his 
decades of service on behalf of the people of Florida and our Nation. 
We have no doubt that he will continue to find ways to make a 
difference and serve our country in the years ahead.

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