[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.
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