[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3184-S3185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering Thad Cochran

  Madam President, I would like to take one more minute to talk about a 
dear friend of mine who is no longer with us, who had a funeral 
yesterday and one today in Mississippi. I want to pay tribute to 
someone I was honored to call my friend, and I know that many other 
Members on both sides of the aisle feel exactly the same way.
  Thad Cochran was the senior Senator from Mississippi, but he was so 
much more. He was a wonderful musician. I have some very happy memories 
of joining him to play the boogie-woogie on the piano that was in his 
office. People couldn't believe that he actually not only had a piano, 
but he had a grand piano in his office. As someone who grew up in 
music, we immediately bonded over that, as two people who loved to play 
the piano.
  He was a true gentleman. If he gave you his word, you knew for a fact 
that he would keep it. His honesty and integrity made him a joy to work 
with on the farm bill, as well as on so many other issues.
  He was deeply devoted to public service, particularly fighting for 
his farmers, for cotton farmers and others in the delta, protecting the 
waters of the Mississippi Delta, and caring for Mississippi's children. 
As author of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, 
he helped provide healthy food for children and families from Biloxi to 
Battle Creek and everywhere in between.
  Senator Cochran was a legislative legend in Mississippi, and he never 
stopped fighting for his beloved Magnolia State. He loved Mississippi, 
and I can tell you that Mississippi loved him right back. I had a 
chance to see this lifelong love affair up close when I visited 
Mississippi with Senator Cochran back in 2013. At the time, I was chair 
of the Agriculture Committee, and Senator Cochran was the ranking 
member. We were right in the middle of working on the farm bill, and I 
was invited to speak at the annual meeting of the Delta Council, which 
has been working to promote economic development in Northwest 
Mississippi since 1935.
  I can tell you that you couldn't find a better Mississippian tour 
guide than Senator Cochran. I got to see the delta up close and listen 
to him talk about the waters, the conservation programs he was such a 
champion for, and the people who depend on them, in that soft drawl of 
his. Listening to him was like listening to poetry.
  Senator Cochran certainly wasn't going to bring me all the way to 
Mississippi without stopping by a few holy sites of that American form 
of music called the blues. We visited the iconic Po' Monkey's Lounge in 
Merigold--one of the last rural juke joints in the State--and met its 
operator, a local farmer named Willie Seaberry. We also stopped by 
Clarksdale Crossroads, home of the Delta Blues Museum and the very spot 
where blues legend Robert Johnson said he sold his soul to the devil in 
exchange for songwriting success.
  I will never forget the picnic by the Mississippi River that he and 
others hosted for me. If you have never been to a good old-fashioned 
Mississippi cookout, then I suggest you book a ticket right now. The 
only thing there was more of than food was southern hospitality. I 
might have been the token Yankee, but I was welcomed as one of their 
own.
  At every stop along the way, Senator Cochran was just beaming with 
pride.

[[Page S3185]]

He couldn't have been more proud of his State, and they were always so 
proud of him.
  At first glance, you might think we didn't have a lot in common. I am 
a northerner, and he was a southerner. We were from different political 
parties and different generations, but we both loved the blues and 
loved to play the piano. We were both passionate about agriculture and 
protecting the waters in our States, and we both deeply believed in 
bridging differences and working together to keep our country moving 
forward.
  In his final speech on the Senate floor, Senator Cochran said this:

       We have engaged in heated arguments. But even in full 
     disagreement, I believe all our motivations begin at the same 
     point: the sincere desire to serve our States and country.

  Senator Cochran was always able to see the good in others, and I 
firmly believe that the Senate and our country would be a kinder, 
better place if more of us would follow his lead.
  Senator Cochran was, above all, a statesman, and he was my friend. 
For that, I will always be grateful. I want to offer his family and 
friends and the entire State of Mississippi my deepest condolences.
  I yield the floor.
  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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Blackburn). The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today as part of 
our national celebration of the 100th anniversary of U.S. women's 
suffrage.
  Now, 100 years ago today, on June 4, 1919, Congress passed the 19th 
Amendment to the Constitution giving women the right to vote. This 
hard-fought legislative victory would ensure women's full participation 
in our democracy.
  On August 18 of 1920, women's suffrage became U.S. law. Now, some of 
the people watching may not know that Wyoming was actually more than 50 
years ahead of the Nation when it came to women voting. That is a fact.
  This year, people back home in Wyoming are celebrating both the 100th 
anniversary of the U.S. women's right to vote and the 150th anniversary 
of Wyoming women's right to vote. Wyoming truly is the Nation's 
trailblazer when it comes to women's equality.
  Many people think of Wyoming as the Cowboy State, and that name 
honors our State's great western heritage, but Wyoming is also known as 
the Equality State--the first State in the Nation to grant women the 
right to vote, long before statehood, actually, because, on December 
10, 1869, the Wyoming territory passed the first law in the United 
States granting women the right to vote and to hold public office. The 
law meant full civil and judicial equality with men.
  The following year, on September 6, 1870, Louisa Ann Swain, of 
Laramie, WY, became the first woman in the United States--in the 
history of the entire country--to vote in a general election.
  Twenty years later, Wyoming reaffirmed its commitment to women's 
rights as we sought statehood. Wyoming, categorically, refused to enter 
the Union without the right for women to vote. When standing on 
principle became a major sticking point, Wyoming stuck to its guns on 
women's equality.
  In fact, retaining women's right to vote was so essential that 
Charles Burritt, of Johnson County, a delegate to the Wyoming 
Constitutional Convention, famously declared: ``If we cannot come into 
the union of states with a platform of right, why then we will stay out 
and willingly remain in a territorial form of government until all of 
us have passed away to the grave.'' That is how important this issue 
was to the people of my home State of Wyoming.
  In Congress, Joseph Carey was here as a Wyoming delegate to the U.S. 
House of Representatives. He presented the case for statehood in the 
House of Representatives. He emphasized the strong values of the people 
of Wyoming, values that included political parity between men and 
women. Members of Congress opposed to women's suffrage meanwhile argued 
strongly against Wyoming becoming a State. One Representative opposed 
to statehood even remarked--and I will quote him from the Record of the 
House of Representatives. He said: ``Mr. Speaker, I do not hesitate to 
say that in my judgment the franchise has been too liberally 
extended.'' It is a Member of the House of Representatives arguing 
against allowing Wyoming to become a State.
  Well, Wyoming, of course, won the debate narrowly. On March 26, 1890, 
the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the Wyoming statehood 
bill by a vote of 139 to 127. The measure passed the Senate a few 
months later, and then on July 10, 1890--that is the day we became a 
State--President Benjamin Harrison signed Wyoming's statehood into law, 
naming the 44th State the ``Equality State''--not the ``Cowboy State,'' 
not a ``Western State'' but the ``Equality State.'' Let me just say 
that my State may have been the 44th State to enter the Union, but 
Wyoming will always be the first when it comes to women's rights.

  Wyoming has declared 2019 as ``The Year of Wyoming Women,'' and on 
December 10 of this year, Wyoming will celebrate Wyoming's Women's 
Suffrage Day. It is a time to pay tribute to Wyoming's many women 
trailblazers, such as Nellie Tayloe Ross, who was Wyoming's 14th 
Governor and the first elected woman Governor in the United States.
  Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross completed the term of her late husband, 
Governor William Ross, who had died suddenly in office. She showed 
great courage and resolve by then running for election--and she did 
this against the advice of close family and friends--and she won. On 
January 5, 1925, Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first U.S. woman to be 
sworn in as Governor, serving with distinction until 1927. She didn't 
stop there. Nellie Ross went on to become the first female Director of 
the United States Mint, serving five terms here in Washington from 1933 
to 1953. She died in 1977 at the age of 101.
  I want to recognize another Wyoming trailblazer today--educator 
Estelle Reel. Estelle Reel was the first woman elected to Wyoming's 
statewide office as the superintendent of public instruction. Only 1 
year later, in 1895, she became the first woman confirmed by the U.S. 
Senate to a Federal position, the Superintendent of Indian Schools.
  There are a few more Wyoming women firsts whom I would like to 
mention.
  On March 7, 1870, Esther Hobart Morris was the first woman to serve 
on a jury. That jury was in Laramie, WY. She was also the first female 
justice of the peace, appointed on February 17, 1870.
  In 1870, Wyoming's Mary Atkinson became our country's first female 
court bailiff.
  Wyoming was also home to the first all-woman city government, elected 
in 1920 in Jackson, WY, and they are shown here in this photograph as 
Wyoming's trailblazing women. The Jackson Press dubbed them ``the 
petticoat government.''
  Clearly, the people of Wyoming and all Americans owe an incredible 
debt of gratitude to the Nation's extraordinary women leaders, past and 
present, so this year, we celebrate those first laws that gave women 
the right to vote and ensured their full participation in our 
democracy.
  Thank you, Madam President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. JONES. Madam President, before I get into my initial remarks, let 
me commend my colleague, the Senator from Wyoming. I didn't know about 
all of the Wyoming women having been first in women's issues. I 
congratulate that State, and I hope that, given the record number of 
women we have in this body and in the Congress of the United States, we 
will continue that march toward progress that Wyoming started over 150 
years ago.