[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 203 (Wednesday, December 2, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7144-S7145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO LAMAR ALEXANDER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Now, Mr. President, on a completely different matter, 
the Senate revolves around people.
  The body consists of 100 individuals. One of our key duties concerns 
the personnel whom we examine and confirm, and there are all these 
dedicated staff professionals who make this place go.
  Today, it is both my great honor and regrettable task to honor 
someone who secured all three parts of that senatorial triple crown: 
the senior Senator from Tennessee, the chairman of the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Lamar Alexander.
  Lamar first set foot here as a talented young staffer. Decades later, 
he appeared before us as a supersuccessful former Governor and 
university president with a nomination to the Cabinet. And for the past 
18 years, the other 99 of us have gotten to serve alongside one of the 
most impactful Senators in modern American history.
  I have known Lamar for more than 50 years. We first met in 1969, when 
I was working for a freshman Senator named Marlow Cook and he worked 
down in the executive branch. We met at the suggestion of his previous 
boss and mentor, Senator Howard Baker. Either he suspected our paths 
might cross again later or he just saw two serious young guys in need 
of some livelier social lives. Now, this may shock the Presiding 
Officer, but I am afraid young Lamar Alexander and young Mitch 
McConnell did not exactly go crazy and paint the town red. But I will 
take a five-decade friendship any day.
  Both of us headed back home to continue our careers. It was already 
clear that a bright future in elected office likely lay in store for 
him.
  Lamar's reverence for public service started early. I believe he was 
about 10 years old when his father, himself a longtime local official, 
took him to meet his hometown Congressman, Howard Baker, Sr. The father 
of his future boss shook the boy's hand and handed him a dime. I think 
Lamar was hooked, then and there.
  Decades later, when Lamar announced his 1996 Presidential run, he was 
in his hometown of Maryville. His speech began with a story about his 
mother. She had read where he had lovingly described his upbringing as 
lower middle class, and she had taken umbrage to that. After all, Lamar 
had a library card and music lessons. In her words, ``everything you 
needed that was important.''
  And I would certainly add loving parents to that list.
  This son of two educators grew up steeped in the importance of 
schooling. He would later reference his mother's work in early 
childhood education by saying he is probably the only Secretary of 
Education in history--in history--who spent 5 years in kindergarten.
  That passion would remain throughout Lamar's career. His cutting-edge 
focus on improving opportunities and reforming education benefited 
Tennessee hugely in the 1980s, and our whole Nation during his time in 
President Bush 41's Cabinet.
  But that isn't the only way Lamar has honored his roots. You couldn't 
walk across the entire State of Tennessee in a plaid shirt, get elected 
Governor before the age of 40, and serve more combined years as 
Governor and Senator than anyone else in the history of the Volunteer 
State without becoming entirely intertwined with the place. Every 
corner of the State is better for his service. His groundbreaking work 
to bring home good-paying auto jobs has paid dividends, so has his 
major focus on infrastructure and better roads.
  But alas, even building a statewide and then national reputation does 
not always, always, translate into honest-to-goodness celebrity status.
  I understand that following Lamar's Governorship, a stretch of 
highway in Maryville was fittingly named the Lamar Alexander Parkway to 
honor him. I further understand that sometime later, Lamar was driving 
on that very road and stopped for breakfast. When it was time to pay 
for his food, he handed over his credit card. The woman on the other 
side of the counter glanced at the name on the card, and then back at 
Lamar. ``Hey,'' she said, ``were you named after this road?''
  Now, as a man of faith, I am certain Lamar knows Luke, chapter 4: 
``No prophet is accepted in his hometown.'' Apparently, neither are 
statesmen to be recognized on their own highway.
  Here in the Senate, too, Lamar's impact has been massive, and the 
convictions that fueled it have been straightforward. He starts with a 
very firm framework: the right-of-center principles that Ronald Reagan 
used to rebuild a confident, prosperous America and beat communism. The 
Federal Government isn't meant to take over our States, neighborhoods, 
or our lives. But Lamar's career has also confirmed that conservative 
governance is not a contradiction in terms. There are genuine public 
goods it is the government's job to secure: public roads, public lands, 
public education, certain aspects of public health. He has dedicated 
himself to making those things better and stronger, especially for 
those who need opportunity the most.
  This vision aligns with the greatest traditions of the Republican 
Party and indeed of American history--government that is limited but 
effective and smart; a system where power stays close to the people and 
working families can thrive and prosper. These principles made our 
colleague a nationally known leader long before he was sworn in as a 
Senator. But I would say they have reached full flourishing with 
Chairman Alexander's astonishingly effective leadership right here in 
this body.
  Students, families, and teachers benefit every day from the Every 
Student Succeeds Act, Chairman Alexander's historic, bipartisan 
makeover following No Child Left Behind. One report called it ``the 
largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter 
century.''
  Millions of medically vulnerable Americans also have their champion 
in our friend from Tennessee. The overwhelmingly bipartisan 21st 
Century Cures Act was the single most important law of the entire 114th 
Congress. It is paving the way for more innovation and faster 
innovation to benefit patients who have no time to waste--another Lamar 
Alexander production.
  His leadership was instrumental in the landmark legislation we passed 
2 years ago to combat the opioid epidemic.
  Just this year, he was the driving force behind the Great American 
Outdoors Act, the Senate's historic project to secure our parks and 
public lands for generations to come.
  The list doesn't end there. There have been other education wins, 
like permanent funding for historically Black colleges and universities 
and simplifying the student loan process. There have been laws like the 
Music Modernization Act, which Lamar hammered out with our former 
colleague, Senator Hatch--a legislative duet from two musical virtuosos 
in their own rights.
  Senator Alexander knows about 50 different issues as well as most 
Senators know 3 or 4. He is hands down one of the most brilliant, most 
thoughtful, and most effective legislators any of us have ever seen.
  He likes to say this about the Senate: ``It's hard to get here; it's 
hard to stay here; so while you're here, you might as well try to 
accomplish something.'' Well, mission accomplished--and then some.
  If you reviewed Senator Alexander's resume and results without 
knowing the man, you might suspect he arrived as an established hotshot 
and threw his weight around. But even as Lamar has mastered the levers 
of power here, his character has never been captured by Washington. 
Lamar has remained clear that he has just been on loan from Tennessee 
the whole time.
  So we have had more than just a master legislator to call upon; we 
have been blessed with a sober, honest, and deliberate statesman--
someone who cares as much about preserving this institution as the 
near-term results he can wring out of it.

[[Page S7145]]

  From daily conversations to committee business, to the most dramatic 
moments on the floor, whether in the minority or the majority, Lamar 
has taken pains to treat his colleagues exactly as he would hope to be 
treated in their shoes. He has worked to build consensus in a 
consensus-based body. He has cherished and defended the Senate the 
Framers designed.
  It is no exaggeration to say Lamar Alexander is one of the most 
brilliant people I have met in my life. His mind is a steel trap. I 
understand he likes to keep his staff experts locked around a 
conference table for long sessions, turning a complex issue over and 
over until they have arrived at the best path forward for the country 
and the most precise, concise way to communicate it. He has a mastery 
of policy, mastery of the English language, and I can't forget to 
mention my friend's good cheer.
  Lamar really does live by the motto he inherited from his good friend 
and fellow Tennesseean, the late author Alex Haley: ``Find the good and 
praise it.''
  I myself have leaned on Lamar's wisdom for many years, but I think I 
have learned just as much from his optimism, his can-do spirit, and his 
ability to look on the bright side and then discern how some more hard 
work can make it brighter still. So I am going to miss our regular 
dinners, even with our weeknight scheduling and official one-drink 
limit. Like I said, we weren't exactly party animals in our twenties 
either.
  But here is something else that never changes: How reassuring it is 
to be weighing a thorny question and see Lamar Alexander seated across 
the table. You know, the Senate can be all-consuming. It is not only 
our colleagues but their spouses and loved ones who all get folded into 
the extended family around here. So I am extremely grateful that it 
turned out that Mitch McConnell was not the most important young person 
Lamar Alexander met during his stint in Washington--not by a mile.
  Honey Alexander is a remarkable woman. She is a force of nature and 
incredible partner for Lamar. She raised a young family in the 
Governor's mansion for 8 years. She charmed and impressed more voters 
during Lamar's various campaigns than Lamar himself, and she has 
devoted her own career to public health and philanthropy. Their shared 
love and mutual respect inspire everyone. Honey is just about the 
finest ``in-law'' the U.S. Senate could have ever had, so Elaine and I 
are grateful to call her our friend as well.
  So as much as I am dreading life in the Senate without my brilliant 
friend, even I can't begrudge him the silver lining. The most 
distinguished public servant has more than earned the right to spend 
more days fly-fishing or walking trails in the Smokies, more mornings 
waking up on Blackberry Farm, and a much larger share of his time with 
Honey and their family.
  About 6 years ago, it fell to Lamar to eulogize his friend and 
mentor, Howard Baker. Here on the floor, he quoted another Senator who 
had said that when it came to the Senate, there was Howard Baker, and 
then there was the rest of us.
  Well, my friend, for 18 years, there has been Lamar Alexander, and 
there has been the rest of us. So I am sorry that in a few more weeks, 
it will be just the rest of us left. But you are leaving this body and 
those of us in it and the Nation it exists to serve stronger and better 
because you were here.

                          ____________________