[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 27, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1527]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN

  Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I rise today because in 1869, 150 
years ago, the Nebraska Legislature unanimously passed and our Governor 
signed legislation that established the University of Nebraska.
  The Morrill-Land Grant Colleges Act, signed into law by President 
Abraham Lincoln in 1862, provided Nebraska with land to establish 
colleges focused on agriculture and the mechanic arts. The university 
opened its doors in our State capital, Lincoln, where we honor 
President Lincoln's namesake.
  Since then, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has grown to an 
enrollment of over 25,000 students, providing over 5,000 new graduates 
to the workforce each year and over $2 billion in annual economic 
impact for Nebraska across our 93 counties.
  The university holds a special place in my heart. I am a graduate of 
the university. Staying true to its roots, UNL remains a national 
leader in water, agriculture, and rural development research, helping 
to transform our State, which was once called the Great American 
Desert, into one of the greatest agricultural exporting regions in the 
world.
  On top of equipping Nebraskans with the skills to feed the world, the 
university has emerged as a leading institution for early childhood 
education and national security and defense research.
  The university's sports teams unite our Nebraska communities, and 
they fuel our pride in our great State. Whether it is to cheer on our 
five-time national championship winning football team at Memorial 
Stadium or at the Devaney Center to support one of our State's 
treasures, the five-time national champion women's volleyball team, 
Lincoln is filled with a sea of Husker red on game days.
  What is more, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln leads the Nation 
with 333 Academic All-Americans across our Cornhusker sports teams.
  The university is also important to the culture of our State, 
showcasing some of the best of the good life--attractions such as the 
State Museum, which is the largest natural history museum in Nebraska 
or the Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum or the East Campus Dairy 
Store known across our State for its wonderful cheese and, of course, 
ice cream.
  The university, like our State, has grown and accomplished much over 
the last century and a half, and that is why my colleague from Nebraska 
and I have introduced a Senate resolution recognizing UNL's 150th 
anniversary on February 15 of 2019.
  This is a formal way for this body to extend our congratulations to 
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on this special milestone in its 
history. I urge my colleagues to support the passage of the resolution 
because, as my colleague and I know so well, there is no place like 
Nebraska.
  Here is to the next 150 years and beyond for the University of 
Nebraska-Lincoln.
  Madam President, I yield some time to my colleague from Nebraska so 
that he may make remarks on this resolution as well.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. SASSE. Madam President, I thank my senior Senator, Deb Fischer, 
for her leadership and drawing attention to the 150th anniversary of 
the University of Nebraska. Senator Fischer is a tireless champion of 
our State and of this special university, her alma mater.
  I am sad to admit in public that I am not a graduate of the 
University of Nebraska, but I had lied about my age for many, many 
years to be able to vend and sell concessions at Huskers sporting 
events before I was old enough to do it so that I could be deeply 
affiliated with this institution, even though I didn't graduate from 
there.
  I salute my senior Senator and her leadership in drawing attention to 
this. I want to tell stories about Coach Osborne, who was my boyhood 
hero, about crying as a 12-year-old after the January 2, 1984, national 
championship game in Miami, about Scott Frost and how he is going to 
soon lead us back to the promised land, but I have already been warned 
by the Presiding Officer that the Senate has some informal unwritten 
rules that actually prohibit football evangelism on the floor.
  I will move along to celebrate, with my senior Senator, our 
volleyball national championships, our bowling national championships, 
and the fact that Nebraska is or was once known as the Great American 
Desert, and we are now the most trade-dependent, export-dependent State 
per capita in the Union precisely because we live on the great Ogallala 
Aquifer, the most productive land anywhere on Earth and at any point in 
the history of the Earth.
  We grow so much more food than we can ever conceivably consume that 
we feed the world from Nebraska, and a huge part of that is because of 
the ag extension programs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There 
are a lot of great Americans and great patriots who serve at the 
University of Nebraska on the faculty, in the administration, and 
donors and alumni and our current students, and the 150th anniversary 
is a great moment for our State. All 50 States have colleges and 
universities they are proud of, but there is no State that is more 
identified with its university than Nebraska. I would like to join my 
senior Senator and applaud her for her leadership in bringing this 
resolution today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Nebraska for 
his words and recognizing the importance of the University of Nebraska 
to our State as an economic engine of the State, as an institution that 
draws on the strengths of the State of Nebraska, and especially looking 
at Innovation Campus at the University in Lincoln, where there is a 
focus on water and on food. We are blessed in Nebraska with that water 
resource, and we do feed the world.
  Madam President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 82, submitted 
earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 82) recognizing the 150th anniversary 
     of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 82) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  I yield the floor.

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