[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 134 (Wednesday, July 29, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4561-S4562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Remembering John Lewis

  Mr. President, I have some remarks about U.S. Representative John 
Lewis, whose casket just left in a hearse from the grounds of the 
Capitol this morning. It was moving to see the number of people who 
would stand in line for a long period of time in 97- or 99-degree heat 
to pass by his casket.
  There is so much we could say about John Lewis. It is difficult to 
summarize or encapsulate or not repeat ourselves, but I think in so 
many ways John Lewis was courage personified. Very, very few 
Americans--other than those who served in combat itself or in other 
instances--could say that they have put themselves on the line as he 
did with his courage in the face of hatred and in the face of brutal 
beatings and otherwise.
  John Lewis helped the United States in its ongoing work to form a 
more perfect union. There is so much more we could say about that. He 
was beaten on multiple occasions for standing up for civil rights and, 
of course, the right to vote itself. He did all of this--all of this--
by practicing nonviolence. I don't know how he did that. I really 
don't. I would like to be able to think that I could do that in the 
face of beatings, but I don't think I could. I really doubt that I 
could and that most people could. But he practiced nonviolence and 
thereby had a huge impact on the American people and American law.
  He served 33 years here in the U.S. House of Representatives. He also 
served on the Atlanta City Council. When President Obama was bestowing 
the Medal of Freedom on John Lewis, he said that John Lewis was ``the 
conscience of the U.S. Congress.'' It was so well said.
  I think, at a time like this, we are summoned by his enduring 
example. We are summoned by his heroic example to pass the voting 
rights bill, H.R. 4, which has been basically sitting here since 
December, when the House passed it. That is the best way to demonstrate 
our gratitude for John Lewis's contributions.
  The fight against injustice must continue. We can't just say what a 
great man he was or what a great leader he was; we have to continue to 
be inspired by and act against injustice whether it is in housing or 
food insecurity or education or employment or healthcare or otherwise.
  Martin Luther King said one time, ``Until justice rolls down like 
waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.'' John Lewis's life was 
in furtherance of that goal--to bring about a world where justice rolls 
down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
  I think John Lewis was a patriot in the broadest sense of the word. 
We know from the song ``America the Beautiful,'' that wonderful line, 
``O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years,'' that the 
dream of a patriot, when they are fighting on a battlefield, is not 
just about the fight they are in; the dream of a patriot, of course, is 
about what happens after, that their sacrifice brings about a better 
world, a more secure country in the context of a war or a battle.
  John Lewis also had the dream of a patriot, the dream of a better 
life for Americans, the dream of equal protection under the law, the 
dream of voting rights being protected. In the largest sense of the 
word, John Lewis was a patriot.
  I am almost done. I know I might be overtime, and I know we have a 
colleague waiting. I will be brief. I apologize for going a little 
long.
  We know that there has been a lot of debate about what happened when 
we had reports in the New York Times and other reports, in June, about 
the U.S. intelligence community learning that Russian intelligence had 
offered payments as high as $100,000, transferred through a middleman, 
to kill U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan.
  I know that we don't have time to get into all the details of that 
today, but we know that the President has, I think, on the record, not 
said anything about this until maybe yesterday in an

[[Page S4562]]

interview, and in my judgment, he did not address and did not respond 
appropriately to those reports.
  I was hoping what the President would say in the interview that I saw 
on television this morning--I guess it was yesterday--and what he would 
have said long before that is that we are going to investigate this and 
we are going to make a determination about the conclusion that we 
reach--that he would reach as President and that he would directly 
confront Vladimir Putin and challenge him on this. But he had a recent 
phone call with him, and all the reporting indicates and even the 
President indicated in his interview that he did not challenge Vladimir 
Putin. That is beyond disturbing, and I think it is not in furtherance 
of our national security interests.
  In the interest of time today, I will not say more because I know we 
are over time.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my 
remarks prior to the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered