[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 206 (Thursday, December 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7200-S7201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY ISAKSON

  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Senator Johnny 
Isakson from the great State of Georgia. I, like all of my colleagues 
in the Senate, am saddened by his retirement. His departure leaves a 
big hole in this Chamber that may never be truly filled.
  Johnny is a Senator's Senator. He embodies the best qualities of a 
public servant. He is smart, hard-working, determined, effective. He is 
humble, not at all self-important, and never seeks attention for 
himself. He has integrity. He is a man of his word.
  He is known throughout the Senate as ready to reach across the aisle 
to seek bipartisan solutions--one of the main reasons he is so 
effective. As he put it during his farewell speech on the Senate floor, 
``I tell you, I am big on bipartisanship.'' Johnny encourages us to 
take his lead and listen to and work with the other side. We all can 
learn from his example.
  Johnny is kind. His heart is big. He always has a smile or greeting 
for the Senate custodians, Capitol police, cafeteria workers, Senate 
pages. He always has the time to be kind to others.
  Johnny is Georgian through and through and loves his State and its 
people. He has served them for 45 years--in both State houses and both 
Congressional Chambers--and is now Georgia's most senior elected 
official. Johnny is as beloved by the people of his State as he is in 
the Senate--and for good reason. He has worked to build Georgia's 
economy, its rural communities, its international trade, its harbors, 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and on and 
on.
  But Johnny is not only a champion for his State, he is a champion for 
the Nation, and he gets things done for our country. Johnny's 
legislative fingerprints are everywhere. From protecting workers' 
pensions, to fighting childhood hunger, to increasing affordable 
housing so families have a roof over their heads, to helping people 
with disabilities, to making sure children with rare diseases get their 
medications, to getting treatment for victims of the opioid crisis--
Johnny has been working for the American people because he cares deeply 
and genuinely about humanity. It is not show for Johnny. You see what 
you get. He is the real deal.
  It is important to thank Johnny for his extraordinary work on behalf 
of veterans. He is a veteran himself, having served 6 years in the 
Georgia Air National Guard after college, and veterans have no stronger 
champion than Johnny. As chair of the Senate Veterans' Affairs 
Committee, he shepherded an amazing 57 bills through the Senate. He 
helped extend the GI bill so that veterans aren't met with an arbitrary 
cutoff to take advantage of their educational benefits. He made sure 
veterans have access to community- and home-based health services. And 
his signature VA Mission legislation ensures that healthcare for 
veterans is more responsive and more effective.
  As I said, Johnny's heart is big, and he welcomes all people. Atlanta 
hosted the 1996 summer Olympics. Cobb County is a suburban county of 
Atlanta and was set to host some preliminary Olympic events. But the 
Cobb County Commission had passed an anti-gay, discriminatory 
resolution. At that time, Johnny was a Cobb County Republican, serving 
in the State senate. It might not have been the most popular position 
in his county, but he urged the County Commission to rescind the 
resolution.
  One of Johnny's best friends is civil rights icon   John Lewis. On 
February 25, 1996, Representative Lewis introduced Johnny as the newest 
member of Georgia's congressional delegation, and on November 19, 2019, 
he gave Johnny a warm farewell, explaining to the House that ``when 
Johnny served in the House of Representatives, we always found a way to 
come together, and we continued that tradition when he was elected to 
the Senate. . . . We always found a way to get along and to do the good 
work the people deserved. Time and time again, he stood with us, he 
worked with us to uplift African Americans in the State of Georgia, to 
recognize individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jackie 
Robinson, natives of Georgia.'' At the end of the tribute, 
Representative Lewis called Johnny his ``brother,'' and they gave each 
other a long embrace.
  During his farewell speech, Johnny said:

       We still have some people in the United States of America 
     who will play the hate card. We have some politicians who 
     will dance around the issue of hate. They will not use the 
     buzz words, but they will get awful close to it. They did it 
     in Charlottesville. . . . We have to stand up to the evils of 
     society today. If we don't do it, nobody will.

  Johnny has stood up for over four decades for what he believes in. We 
will miss his honesty, his integrity, and his fine character. Jill and 
I wish Johnny and Dianne, their three children, and eight grandchildren 
the very best. Enjoy life. And we will do our best to follow your 
example in the Senate.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I wanted to spend a few moments to 
recognize my colleague and friend, Senator Isakson from Georgia.
  When I first came to the Senate in 2009--a decade ago, it surprises 
me to say--I was on the Banking Committee. We were in the middle of the 
worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and millions of 
Americans were losing their homes each month.
  We held a hearing on housing, and I remember Senator Isakson coming 
to testify because, before he was in politics, he had spent several 
years in the private sector working in real estate. I appreciated that 
moment because, one, I had also spent some time in business before 
politics, and two, because it was so refreshing to hear from someone 
who actually knew what they were talking about.
  Over the past 10 years, I have had the benefit of Senator Isakson's 
experience, friendship, and wisdom on both the HELP and Finance 
Committees.
  In Johnny, so many of us have had a model for how to get things done 
even in this moment of partisan division. He was a welcome throwback to 
a time when people didn't come to this town just to spend every moment 
on cable news but to get things done for the people they came here to 
represent.
  Johnny's record suggests there is nothing quaint or naive about that 
approach to the work because over his 15 years in the Senate, he has 
managed to secure quite a few bipartisan accomplishments, including 
several things we have worked on together.
  I remember Johnny really digging in and getting his hands dirty on 
the SAVE Act, our bill to make Federal mortgage loan agencies consider 
the returns from energy efficiency when they determine your ability to 
make your monthly payments. We passed that out of the Senate, and it 
was a

[[Page S7201]]

tremendous credit to Johnny's determination and focus.
  We passed a bill to modernize the FDA's medical device inspections 
and to strengthen patient access to rehabilitation hospitals in 
Colorado and Georgia. We passed an amendment to strengthen funding for 
early learning programs. And we introduced bills together to provide 
tax relief for AmeriCorps members who earned Segal Awards to help pay 
for college.
  I could go on, and it is a credit to Johnny's broad record of 
bipartisan work.
  Johnny has been a particular champion for our veterans. As a former 
member of the Georgia Air National Guard, Johnny has been a steady and 
effective advocate for those who have served. Last year, he was 
instrumental in passing a bipartisan bill to make it far easier for 
veterans to take their benefits to private doctors for care, among 
other long-overdue reforms. With our large population of veterans in 
Colorado, we were especially grateful to Johnny for his leadership.
  There is a lot more I could share, but the point is, Johnny has used 
his time here well--with real results for the people of Georgia. He 
didn't do it through bullying or shouting or threatening to bring the 
Senate to its knees if he didn't get his way. He did it Johnny's way--
with unfailing kindness, grace, humor, and dogged persistence. It would 
be easy to mistake Johnny's kindness for a lack of intensity or 
determination, but behind his easy smile is a fierce devotion to 
Georgia and a welcome impatience with the inaction of this town.
  That approach is how Johnny leaves this body not only with a 
considerable record of accomplishment but with a long list of admirers 
on both sides of the aisle who are now wondering who is going to host 
the annual bipartisan BBQ. We are sad to see him go, and we wish him 
all the best as he returns to Georgia to focus on his health and spend 
time with his wife, Diane, their three kids and eight grandkids.
  Johnny, I wish you the very best. Know that the Senate will feel your 
absence and cherish the example you set here.

                          ____________________