[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 SENATE RESOLUTION 229--RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF THE HONORABLE WILLIAM 
THAD COCHRAN, FORMER UNITED STATES SENATOR FOR THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

  Mr. WICKER (for himself and Mrs. Hyde-Smith) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 229

       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was born in 
     Pontotoc, Mississippi, in 1937;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran graduated from 
     Byram High School in Hinds County, Mississippi, as 
     valedictorian, an Eagle Scout, a member of 4-H, and a student 
     athlete;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran studied at the 
     University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi;
       Whereas, while a student at the University of Mississippi, 
     the Honorable William Thad Cochran was president of Pi Kappa 
     Alpha fraternity, vice president of the student body, company 
     commander in the Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and 
     head cheerleader;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was commissioned 
     an Ensign in the United States Naval Reserve, served aboard 
     the USS MACON from 1959 to 1961, served on staff of the 
     Commandant of the Eighth Naval District in New Orleans, 
     Louisiana, taught military law and naval orientation at the 
     Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, from 1962 
     to 1964, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the 
     United States Naval Reserve;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran studied at the 
     University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford, 
     Mississippi, and at Trinity College, University of Dublin, in 
     Dublin, Ireland, on a Rotary Foundation Graduate Fellowship;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran joined the law 
     firm of Watkins & Eager in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964, was 
     made a partner at that firm in less than 3 years, and served 
     as chairman of the Mississippi Law Institute, lawyers' 
     chairman for the Heart Fund and United Givers Fund, president 
     of the Young Lawyers Division of the Mississippi Bar 
     Association, a board member of the Jackson Rotary Club, and 
     chairman of the Legal Services program of the Jackson Junior 
     Bar;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was elected to 
     the House of Representatives to represent the Fourth District 
     of Mississippi in 1972, and was reelected in 1974 and 1976;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was elected to 
     the Senate in 1978, becoming the first Republican in more 
     than 100 years to win a statewide election in the State of 
     Mississippi, and was reelected in 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, 
     2008, and 2014, with a total period of service lasting from 
     December 27, 1978, to April 1, 2018;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran served as Chair 
     of the Senate Republican Conference from 1991 to 1997;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran served as 
     Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
     Forestry of the Senate from 2003 to 2005;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran served as 
     Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate 
     from 2005 to 2007 and from 2015 to 2018;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran championed 
     education programs, including programs to increase 
     educational achievement among disadvantaged children, 
     particularly in rural areas, to build the research 
     capabilities of universities, and to support Historically 
     Black Colleges and Universities;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran worked to 
     strengthen the Armed Forces by supporting shipbuilding 
     programs for the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and 
     other critical Federal organizations and the military bases 
     and installations in the State of Mississippi and across the 
     United States;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was the chief 
     sponsor of the National Missile Defense Act of 1999 (Public 
     Law 106-38; 113 Stat. 205), which made the United States 
     exponentially safer by creating the missile defense system 
     used by the United States as of June 2019;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was a leader in 
     agriculture and worked to promote United States agricultural 
     innovation around the world through the development of the 
     Cochran Fellowship Program of the Department of Agriculture, 
     which trains fellows from middle-income countries to 
     strengthen and enhance trade linkages between the countries 
     of the fellows and agricultural interests in the United 
     States;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran led the effort 
     to provide critical Federal assistance to the State of 
     Mississippi and other Gulf Coast States devastated by 
     Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the worst natural disaster in the 
     history of the United States;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was a devoted 
     father, grandfather, and husband;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was awarded 
     honorary degrees from Kentucky Wesleyan College, Mississippi 
     College, Blue Mountain College, the University of Richmond, 
     Belhaven University, and Tougaloo College;
       Whereas the Honorable William Thad Cochran was recognized 
     as the tenth-longest serving Senator in the history of the 
     United States;
       Whereas the service of the Honorable William Thad Cochran 
     on behalf of the people of the State of Mississippi and all 
     people of the United States earned the Honorable William Thad 
     Cochran the respect and devotion of colleagues and the title 
     ``the Quiet Persuader''; and
       Whereas the death of the Honorable William Thad Cochran has 
     deprived the State of Mississippi and the United States of 
     one of the most distinguished statesmen: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the 
     announcement of the death of the Honorable William Thad 
     Cochran, former Senator for the State of Mississippi; and
       (2) respectfully requests that the Secretary of the 
     Senate--
       (A) communicate this resolution to the House of 
     Representatives; and
       (B) transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the 
     family of the Honorable William Thad Cochran.

                          ____________________