[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 204 (Thursday, December 3, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7199-S7203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNIZING THE STAFF OF SENATOR ALEXANDER

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, here is my view of serving in the 
U.S. Senate: It is hard to get here, it is hard to stay here, and while 
you are here, you might as well try to accomplish something good for 
the country. Accomplishing something good in the U.S. Senate means 
working with a superior staff.
  Today, I want to pay tribute to the 270 men and women who have served 
on my staff since I came to the Senate in 2003, in my personal office, 
both here in Washington, DC, and in the six Tennessee offices; in the 
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; the Senate 
Rules Committee; the Senate Appropriations Committee; and at the Senate 
Republican conference.
  Some who started with me in 2003 are still working for me after 18 
years, and some have moved on to other opportunities, but each has 
played a major role in the Senate, whether they were helping to pass 
laws, serve our constituents, or answering the front-office phone.
  We have some important traditions here in the Senate, including the 
maiden speech, which I delivered 17 years ago, in my case, and the 
farewell speech, which I delivered yesterday, but for me, something is 
missing. Usually staff is acknowledged in the farewell address, which 
either makes the address way too long or at least too little time to 
properly acknowledge their contributions. I am here today to make a 
``Salute to the Staff'' speech. I know my colleagues agree that their 
own accomplishments are the result of working with superior staff, so 
perhaps, if I may not be presumptuous, a ``Salute to the Staff'' speech 
might become an additional Senate tradition.
  When I say ``superior staff,'' here is what I mean: superior in being 
what Senator Howard Baker used to call an eloquent listener--that the 
constituent on the phone might be right or even the staffer in the 
other office might be right; superior in courtesy to the Tennesseans 
for whom we work; superior in insight; superior in resolving complex 
issues and wrapping up the result in a nice package with a ribbon tied 
around it, ready to be passed and signed into law whenever the moment 
came that it could be passed, which would usually be a surprise and at 
an inconvenient time; and superior in writing and speaking plain 
English in order to persuade at least half the people we are right; and 
superior in working well together--something you are supposed to learn 
in kindergarten--so we have a good time while we are working.
  Unlike almost every other Senate office, at the suggestion of my 
chief of staff, David Cleary, we created a single team composed of 
personal office staff here and in Washington, DC, and the committee 
staff, with David in charge of all of that. I originally thought that 
was a big mistake. I didn't see how anyone could be in charge of all of 
that, but I was wrong about it because what it did was break down 
barriers and eliminate jealousy, improve communication, and create a 
much happier and effective working condition.
  The results have been exceptional. For 18 years, I have gotten up 
every morning thinking I might be able to do something good to help our 
country, and I have gone to bed most nights thinking that I have. That 
couldn't have happened without the privilege of working with an 
exceptional staff.
  The truth is--we all know this--that there is just no physical way 
for any U.S. Senator to see every single one of our constituents every 
time we want to

[[Page S7200]]

see them or talk to them on the phone, although we all make our best 
efforts to do that. And you learn pretty quickly that constituents 
expect and deserve to be treated not just with courtesy but promptly. 
For example, Senator Estes Kefauver held this seat that I now hold when 
I was a high school student.
  One day, Maude from Madisonville, his hometown, called Senator 
Kefauver's office and said: ``I want to speak to Estes.''
  The staffer said: ``I'm sorry but Senator Kefauver is tied up on the 
floor.''
  There was a long silence. Maude said: ``Well, you go down and untie 
the son of a gun and get him up off the floor and tell him Maude's on 
the phone and wants to speak to him.''
  So our constituents expect to talk with us when they want to.
  My first visit to the Senate was when I was a junior in high school. 
It was part of the American Legion Boys Nation Program. I was invited 
to visit Senator Kefauver. I was 17 years old. I was reluctant to do 
that because I was sure he had many more important people to see than a 
17-year-old boy from Maryville, TN. I was even more sure of that when I 
arrived at his office because his office was just filled with people 
who looked important and looked like they had come from all over the 
world to see him. But his assistant came out and swished me in through 
all the important people, doing her best to make me feel comfortable. 
Kefauver had a reputation for being accessible, and it was because his 
staff made it appear that he always was.
  I remind my staff that there are many people who want to see us who 
suspect that we feel we are too important to see them, and we should do 
everything we can to help them understand that we know that they are 
the important ones.
  The staff and I have done our best to try to do that. With all of the 
Senators with whom I have served from Tennessee, we have what we call 
Tennessee Tuesday, which are breakfasts where any Tennessean can come 
and visit with both Senators, have a little breakfast, and have their 
photograph taken.
  In 18 years, 270 people have worked on my Senate staff--as I 
mentioned, in Jackson, Nashville, Tri-Cities, Knoxville, Memphis, 
Chattanooga, or in Washington, DC, on my personal staff or the Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions staff or the Rules Committee or 
Appropriations Committee or at the Senate Republican conference. There 
are a lot of places to have a lot of staff--153 women, 117 men.
  Our staff has also benefited from the work of 433 interns. These 
interns usually stay with us 1 to 3 months, and they have some real 
work experiences while they are here, and they are pretty good. In 
fact, 30 staff members--that is 11 percent of our staff--began their 
work in our office as interns.
  Our staff has experienced some great personal joys. We celebrated the 
birth or adoption of 30 babies over those 18 years. Just as I met my 
wife Honey while we were both working in the Senate, some of our 
staffers met their spouses while working on my staff, including: 
Mackensie Burt and Paul McKernana, Will Patterson and Katherine Knight, 
Virginia Heppner and Bobby McMillin, Laura Lefler and John Herzog, Will 
Campbell and Victoria Souza, and Patrick Jaynes and Jill Salyers. They 
are all married now.
  We also have experienced some profound sorrows. Some have lost 
parents, nursed seriously injured children, or been through their own 
health emergencies.
  In November 2007, Trey Lefler, a very special staffer and friend, was 
involved in a serious car accident and died as a result of his 
injuries.
  Many staff members have stayed. We have worked together for a long 
time. Some have been a part of our team--meaning we worked together--
since I became a Senator: Patrick Jaynes, State director; Lindsey 
Seidman, deputy staff director on the HELP Committee; Jane Chedester, 
field representative in Knoxville; Kay Durham, constituent services 
representative in Nashville; Charlotte Jackson, who knows more about 
how to help people with a visa problem than anybody in the world; Matt 
Varino, field representative in Jackson; Gina Parkerson in Tri-Cities; 
Stephanie Chivers, a senior adviser in Nashville.
  It is pretty remarkable. It is not so easy to be on the staff of a 
U.S. Senator in the State they represent. Everybody knows who you are. 
Everywhere you go, you are likely to be sought out by people who need 
help, people who are hurting. It is easy to get burned out. It is hard 
to stay in a job like that for that long.
  Patrick Jaynes says that while these might be jobs in politics, the 
politics end when you start the job. You have to work with everyone and 
help everyone.
  Our Tennessee field representatives have traveled thousands of miles, 
meeting with mayors, businesses, schools, hospitals, and other 
organizations across our 95 counties.
  Caseworkers have handled about 20,000 cases over the years, like 
getting disability benefits, helping a World War II veteran get a 
medal, helping a family stranded overseas get home.
  For example, Laura Ray Goodrich is a staffer in Jackson. She heard of 
a single mother having desperate issues getting her tax refund. The 
mother needed the money to help pay rent and the rest of her bills. 
Laura got to work and reached out to the IRS. She discovered the 
mother's returns had been wrong for several years and helped the 
thrilled single mother recover far more money than she was expecting.
  Keith Abraham, who works in the Knoxville office, heard from a 
Tennessee company about an employee with a grim cancer diagnosis. The 
employee's parents lived in China. They were unable to see the employee 
because of COVID-19 restrictions. Long and short, Keith worked it out 
so they could receive the appropriate paperwork and fly here to be with 
their daughter.
  One story that I got to see in person was about Wilbur ``Bill'' 
Hoffman from World War II. Mary Wooldridge, in our Memphis office, was 
asked if there was some way he could be recognized for his World War II 
service. She worked with the service and discovered that he was not 
only eligible for a Purple Heart after he had been wounded at Pointe du 
Hoc on D-Day in 1944, he had also earned the Bronze Star and the Ranger 
Tab awards. In 2012, he was presented with these awards by our State's 
highest ranking military officer, General Haston at a ceremony I 
attended. He died a year later.
  Each fall, Kay Durham in our office works through about 150 
Tennesseans' applications to attend our Nation's service academies. She 
has worked with over 2,500 candidates applying for those academies.
  There is no better State director than Patrick Jaynes. He also served 
as deputy chief of staff. He worked to create a smooth relationship 
between what happens in Tennessee and what happens here. I have 
traveled thousands of miles with Patrick. He has not run into anybody, 
but we have been through a lot of flat tires and some speeding tickets. 
Patrick and I have seen it all. He is full of insights. He always has 
energy for the next event and can always solve a problem.
  During my time in the Senate, the conference elected me three times 
as chairman of the Senate Republican conference. That is a little bit 
of a political job. What you are supposed to do is come up with 
something that Republicans can say to counter what Democrats are 
saying. It is especially a challenge to do that for Republicans to get 
them to talk on a single message.

  All of the Senators--every one of us--are experts in politics or we 
wouldn't have gotten here. And Republican Senators are especially 
independent-minded. Republicans and Democrats will often all do things 
together as a caucus, but we do it differently than they do. Democrats 
will all hold hands and jump off the cliff together. Republicans will 
also all jump off the cliff at the same time, but one will do a 
somersault, one will do a back flip, one will do a dive, and so forth.
  The goal was to come up in the caucus with a catchy phrase. For 
example, on energy, ``Find more, use less,'' or about ObamaCare, ``step 
by step,'' instead of ``comprehensive.''
  To persuade Senators to say the same thing, staff would record clips 
of them saying what I thought they should say, and then we would show 
that back to them at lunch. I found that Senators paid a lot more 
attention to watching themselves say things

[[Page S7201]]

than they did to watching me suggest to them what to say.
  It wasn't me doing all that; it was staff doing it. They came up with 
catchy phrases, many of them. They made sure we communicated them at 
the conference.
  While I was on the Rules Committee, I had a chance--I worked with 
Senator Schumer on that. We were ranking--really, like this year, we 
didn't know who would be the new President. I had an opportunity to 
speak at President Obama's inauguration. We talked about the peaceful 
transfer or the reaffirmation of power as a conspicuous symbol of our 
democracy. There is no possible way to organize a Presidential 
inauguration without a superior staff. Mary Jones and Lindsey Seidman 
were the ones who were in charge of all that for us.
  Then, in 2012, on the Senate HELP Committee--as the senior Republican 
for 2 years, then 6 years as chairman--the staff grew a lot. Senator 
Ted Kennedy used to say that the HELP Committee had about one-third of 
the jurisdiction of the Senate. It certainly does a lot of work, and it 
needs a lot of talented staff members. During my 8 years as the senior 
Republican, the staff helped organize 209 hearings, 752 witnesses, 
mostly bipartisan--meaning that I agreed with Senator Harkin first, 
then Senator Murray for the last 6 years, on whom the witnesses would 
be. We produced 90 bills that have become law.
  That is a lot of work--weeks of work by the staff. Securing each 
witness often takes a host of conversations with Democratic committee 
staff, numerous phone calls with experts.
  Every bill that becomes law takes efforts that are hard to comprehend 
outside the walls of Congress, from the consultations with constituents 
and experts to the drafting of the legislation, to the work with other 
members and outside groups, to consulting, to trying to soothe bruised 
feelings, to working with other committee members, bring it to the 
attention of the majority leader, try to find an opportunity for it to 
be on the Senate calendar, then bill support, then remove holes. There 
is a lot of work to do in passing a bill and making a law, and staff 
does most of the work. Senators do a lot, but they can't do it all.
  Here are some of the achievements worth highlighting. I mentioned 
many of them yesterday in my farewell address, so I won't go into great 
detail about them today; for example, the Every Student Succeeds Act. 
This was the bill to fix No Child Left Behind. It affects 50 million 
children in 100,000 schools. President Obama called it ``a Christmas 
miracle.'' The Wall Street Journal said it was the largest devolution 
of power from Washington to the States in 25 years. I will never forget 
what, to me, was a truly emotional moment, when every Senator on our 
committee--this is from Rand Paul to Elizabeth Warren--voted to 
recommend the bill to the Senate. This law was the result of 
complicated and nimble work by Peter Oppenheim, Lindsay Fryer, Matt 
Stern, and David Cleary.
  FAFSA Simplification. Twenty million Americans fill out this 
ridiculously complex form for Federal aid for Pell grants and student 
loans. You have seen me hold it up on the Senate floor. Everyone agrees 
it can be 33 instead of 108 questions. Almost everyone agrees it is the 
major obstacle to low-income students getting Federal aid to go to 
college because they are intimidated by it. Bob Moran, Lauren Davies, 
and Andrew LaCasse have worked hard with Senator Murray's staff. We 
have it about half done. We would like to get it across the finish line 
before the end of the year.
  Head Start. In 2007, we came up with the idea. Sarah Rittling was the 
staffer. It was to establish 200 centers of excellence for the Head 
Start Program.
  Then, in 2005, Katrina came and Rita came, two big hurricanes. 
Kristin Bannerman was critical to legislation, where we worked with 
Senator Kennedy, Senator Dodd, and Senator Landrieu for voucher funding 
to assist with the cost of educating 150,000 public and nonpublic 
school students in grades K-12 displaced by the hurricane.
  Then, reauthorizing the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. 
Education Week said it was ``a watershed moment.'' Staffer Jake Baker 
worked on that. Senator Enzi did a lot of the heavy work.
  I have been fortunate to have two extraordinary women whom I work 
with on the team of staff on the HELP Committee who handle family 
health policy: Mary-Sumpter Lapinski and Grace Graham.
  Before they started, Melissa Pfaff, Page Kranbuhl, and Marguerite 
Salee Kondracke were instrumental in passing the PREEMIE Act in 2003, 
getting the bill well written and signed into law, working with the 
March of Dimes to help give more babies a chance to live long and 
healthy lives.
  Once I became senior on the HELP Committee, we began to work on the 
21st Century Cures Act. Senator McConnell said it was the most 
important law of that Congress. It helps speed medical innovations to 
patients in doctors' offices. Margaret Coulter, Andy Vogt, Melissa 
Pfaff, Brett Meeks, and others spent countless hours getting ready for 
that.
  FDA user fees. This showed Grace Graham's ability to be a traffic cop 
working with Senator Murray's staff and with House committees. We had a 
really fairly seamless effort to take these complicated pieces of law 
to collect user fees from drug and device makers and include 
significant new provisions to speed those drugs and devices into 
doctors' offices.
  The most popular bill that never became a law was called Alexander-
Murray. I even bought a case of Scotch called Alexander-Murray to give 
out to everybody when it passed, but it never was passed. The result of 
the immense efforts--the whole goal--was to reduce the cost of 
healthcare premiums in the individual insurance market. President Trump 
worked well with us on that. Virginia McMillin and Liz Wroe did 
countless hours of work, but we couldn't quite get it across the finish 
line.
  Then, this year, there was the shark tank. With the support of 
Senators Blunt and Shelby, we worked together with Francis Collins, of 
the National Institutes of Health, to create an initiative of $2.5 
billion to produce 50 million more COVID diagnostic tests a month than 
current technologies would do. Grace Graham, Melissa Pfaff, and Laura 
Friedel on Senator Blunt's staff worked on that.
  During all of this, Grace Graham was in her third trimester--not 
during all of it. During the latter part of this, she was in her third 
trimester. She was working on design policies and being a traffic cop 
between here and the House. To date, she and Stash, her husband, have 
had their first child, Penn. She is back at work, and the country is 
better off for everything that she has contributed.
  Our committee leadership positions are often considered the plum 
positions, but you can do a whole lot with a talented personal staff. 
Ours has put in long hours and has met expectations. For example, on 
the Great American Outdoors Act, Anna Newton and Lindsay Garcia did 
yeoman's work. This is a bill that good people have literally been 
trying to pass since the Eisenhower years. It was the most important 
piece of outdoor legislation in that period of time.
  With the Music Modernization Act, we worked with Senator Hatch and 
his staff. We eventually got 85 cosponsors, but this one nearly ran off 
the road several times. Lindsay Garcia and Paul McKernan made sure it 
became law.
  The America COMPETES Act was back in my early years as a Senator, 
when I was very junior, so I got the Republican leader and the 
Democratic leader to cosponsor it. It passed with, I think, more than 
60 cosponsors to improve our competitive position in the world.
  Matt Sonnesyn and David Cleary were the key staffers on that. They 
were not just working with staff people around here. For example, with 
the America COMPETES Act, the bill wouldn't have passed if it had not 
been for 800 outdoor recreation environmental groups outside of 
Congress who supported the bill and encouraged Senators to get off 
planes and come back here to cast crucial votes. We are grateful for 
that. Matt Sonnesyn worked with the Iraq Study Group recommendations 
that we made during the George W. Bush years, and Erin Reif and Lucas 
DaPieve have been experts on foreign affairs and appropriations.
  While I have been chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations, we

[[Page S7202]]

have had 5 straight years in a row--hopefully, we will have 6--of 
funding the Office of Science, which supports our 17 National 
Laboratories. We have also stepped up funding for all of the inland 
waterways, like Chickamauga Lock, and for supercomputing in order to 
keep us first in the world. Tom Craig, Tyler Owens, Meyer Seligman, Jen 
Armstrong, and Adam DeMella all played key roles in that.
  I met every week with what I called my Energy Working Group. I found 
the intersection of energy and environment to be, really, the most 
fascinating new subject for me during my time as a Senator, and we did 
a lot of work on that both on the Committee on Appropriations and with 
other Senators. Meeting with that energy policy staff helped to get the 
America COMPETES Act passed. It stopped the Road to Nowhere in the 
Smokies. It pushed back on the efforts to promote Big Wind on our 
mountain ridges, and it resulted in record funding for energy and water 
development. Sharon Segner, Jessica Holliday, Conrad Schatte, and 
Lindsay Garcia all led those teams.
  We spend a lot of time working with staff to get the policy right and 
trying to get the message right. You have to be able to persuade at 
least half the people that you are right in this business. Words 
matter. We spend a lot of time on headlines so that we convey what we 
are trying to do. The individuals who have led our communications unit 
include Alexia Poe, Harvey Valentine, Lee Pitts, Jim Jeffries, Brian 
Reisinger, Margaret Atkinson, Liz Wolgemuth, Ashton Davies, and Taylor 
Haulsee.
  You can't run an effective office without a good office manager. We 
have had the best--Trina Tyrer and Debbie Paul. Misty Marshall came to 
us from the White House, where she was the director of correspondence 
for Laura Bush.
  One of the toughest, most important jobs in the Senate office that 
people outside the Senate don't really appreciate as much is the job of 
scheduling. It requires constant changes, great discretion, enormous 
promptness, and attention to detail. Every day is a mismatch of 
meetings and calls. There is no schedule, really, in the U.S. Senate. 
You just kind of keep up with what is going on, and you put it down on 
a piece of paper. Suddenly, everything can get wiped out by an 
emergency call. Bonnie Sansonetti, Sarah Fairchild, and Alicyn York 
have been the very best.
  The legislative director conducts the office orchestra. I have been 
very fortunate that Allison Martin has been our conductor. She used to 
work for Bill Frist and Fred Thompson. She is a West Tennessean, but 
the whole State is what she cares about as well as the country. If you 
were to look for somebody with her skill and talent, you would be 
looking for a very long time. David Cleary, Richard Hertling, Matt 
Sonnesyn, and David Morgenstern were also legislative directors.
  One thing I know is I wouldn't be very good as a chief of staff, so I 
needed a very good chief of staff to do some things that I don't do as 
well. My first one was Tommy Ingram, whom I have known since 1966 when 
he was a Tennessean reporter, and I was working for Howard Baker in his 
second campaign. We have been friends ever since. He was my campaign 
manager and chief of staff as Governor. He did the same thing. He is 
really responsible for much of my success in politics.
  David Morgenstern joined my staff in 2005 as legislative director, 
and he became chief of staff in 2009.
  Matt Sonnesyn came to me from the Harvard Kennedy School of 
Government. He was initially a senior policy adviser. He was one of the 
few Republican students in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, so 
he was well trained in defending his views.
  Ryan Loskarn served as chief of staff starting in 2007.
  Then, in my personal office, David Cleary has been the chief for the 
past 7 years. You can see him somewhere in an outrageous red and black 
suit on the Senate floor. David and I have worked together for almost 
15 years. First, he served as staff director for the HELP Subcommittee 
on Children and Families. He used to work for John Boehner in the House
  In 2014, after becoming the ranking member of the HELP Committee, 
David suggested, as I said earlier, that he be both chief of staff and 
staff director of the committee. I recounted how, at first, I thought 
that was a bad idea, but it was one of the best ideas suggested to me 
because it made our staff so much more effective and work so much 
better. It was the key to our success, really, and I do not know of a 
more effective chief of staff of the Senate than David Cleary. He led 
our efforts to fix No Child Left Behind, the 21st Century Cures, the 
reauthorizing of Perkins, and the FDA user fees legislation. I 
appreciate how much time Marci, his wife, and Maria, their daughter, 
have given to our team.
  To close, I would like to thank all 270 staff members who have given 
time and energy to our office. One of those, Reynard Graham, has been 
my administrative right hand for many years. His bigger job is that he 
is a minister on the weekends. There isn't time to recognize the 
accomplishments of each one by name, but there are many, and I am 
grateful to every single individual.
  It has been a tremendous gift to work with a skilled and dedicated 
staff. Each person who has served in this office should be proud of 
what we have accomplished. I have been so fortunate to have been on the 
same team with each of you for the last 18 years.
  In a farewell address yesterday, I said that I wake up every day 
thinking I might be able to do something good for our country and that 
I go to bed most nights thinking that I have. It has been a great 
privilege to be a U.S. Senator. It has been a great privilege over 
these 18 years to work with such an exceptional staff.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a list of the 
names of my staff
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

        Keith Abraham, Halee Ackerman, Hayley Alexander, Abbey 
     Allen, Stacy (Cline) Amin, Carrie Apostolou, Sarah Arbes, 
     Katie Argo, Jen Armstrong, Abby Atkins, Margaret Atkinson, 
     Jill Bader-Thompson, Jake Baker, Brandon Ball, Aaron 
     Baluczynski, Andy Banducci, Kristin Bannerman-Herrmann, 
     Kathryn Bell, Bailee Beshires, Anthony Birch.
        Jeremy Boshwit, Lyndsay Botts, Jennifer Boyer, Charlie 
     Brereton, Kelly Brexler, Palmer Brigham, Justine Brittain, 
     Louie Brogdon, Austin Bryan, Adam Buckalew, Brenda Buescher, 
     Ace Burch, Jonathan Burke, Andrew Burnett, David Campbell, 
     Will Campbell, Victoria (Souza) Campbell, Meredith Carter, 
     Laura Chambers-Crist, Robbie Champion.
        Jane Chedester, Stephanie Chivers, Sarah Chu, David 
     Cleary, Joseph Cody, Chris Connolly, Molly Conway, Mary 
     Catherine Cook, Hannah Cornwell, Margaret Coulter, Tom Craig, 
     Sydney Crawford, Starling Crossan, Joseph Cwiklinski, Lucas 
     DaPieve, Ashton Davies, Elizabeth Davis, Adam DeMella, Evan 
     Dixon, Christine Dodd.
        Kay Durham, Emily Durnin, Jennifer Ellis, Grant English, 
     Seth Ephrussi, Greg Facchiano, Sarah Fairchild, Anna 
     Catherine Feaster, Qur'an Folsom, Kyle (Hicks) Fortson, 
     Harrison Fox, Jr., Emily France, Evann Freeman, Lindsey 
     Fryer, Alice Ganier, Kitty Ganier, Lindsay Garcia, Jaime 
     Garden, Nick Geale, Elizabeth Gibson.
        Randall Gibson, Jr., Houston Goddard, Meredith Good-Cohn, 
     Laura Ray Goodrich, Carolyn Gorman, Elizabeth Gorman, Reynard 
     Graham, Grace (Stuntz) Graham, John Grant, Jon Grayson, Sarah 
     Greene, Sharon Hagget, Daniel Hale, Jeremy Harrell, Brandon 
     Harrison, Heather Hatcher, Jenn Hatfield, Taylor Haulsee, 
     Crystal Hayslett, Faye Head.
        William Heartsill, Alicia Hennie, Richard Hertling, John 
     Herzog, Laura (Lefler) Herzog, Kai Hirabayashi, Madison Hite, 
     Jessica Holliday, Alexanderia Honeycutt, Derek Horne, 
     Elizabeth Howell, Haley Hudler, Kara Huffstutter, Jones 
     Hussey, Jordan Hynes, Joel Igelhart, Neena Imam, Tom Ingram, 
     Charlotte Jackson, Patrick Jaynes.
        Jill Jaynes, Jim Jeffries, Lora Jobe, Tonya Johnson, 
     Madeline Jurch, Nora Khalil, Lina Kilani, Kimberly 
     Kirkpatrick, Emily Kirlin, Katherine Knight, Bill Knudsen, 
     Hillary Knudson, Page Kranbuhl, Andrew LaCasse, Lesley 
     Landrum, Mary-Sumpter Lapinski, Trey Lefler, Jeff Lewis, 
     Bridget Lipscomb, Rachel Littleton.
        Anne Locke, Brett Logan, Linda Long, Ryan Loskarn, Molly 
     Lukic, Nick Magallanes, Christina Mandreucci, Molly Marsh, 
     Misty Marshall, Allison Martin, David McAdam, Meghan McCully, 
     Paul McKernan, Mackensie (Burt) McKernan, Bobby McMillin, 
     Virginia (Heppner) McMillin, Kayla McMurry, Brett Meeks, 
     Michael Merrell, Will Meyer IV.
        Latonya Miller, Meade Miller-Carlisle, Scot Montrey, Lana 
     Moore, Bob Moran, David Morgenstern, Jennifer Moroney, Nicole 
     Morse, Brandon Morton, Kim Morton, Jeff Muhs, Patrick Murray, 
     Katie Neal, Beth Nelson, Anna Newton, Laura Marks O'Brien, 
     Andrew Offenburger, Katie Oglesby, Peter Oppenheim, Tyler 
     Owens.
        Mary Parkerson, Will Patterson, Debbie Paul, Megan 
     Paulsen, Austin Payne, Constance Payne, Laura Pence, Kelly 
     Perry,

[[Page S7203]]

     Morgan Petty, Melissa Pfaff, Charlie Phelps, Jr.; Lee Pitts, 
     Alexia Poe, Greg Proseus, Erin Reif, Brian Reisinger, Sarah 
     Rittling, John Rivard, Michelle Rodriguez, Adam Rondinone.
       Kristin Rosa, Kristyn Royster, Marguerite (Sallee) 
     Kondracke, Bonnie Sansonetti, Sandra SawanLara, Conrad 
     Schatte, Lowell Schiller, Michael Schulz, Lauren (Davies) 
     Schwensen, Kelly Scott, Sharon Segner, Lindsey (Ward) 
     Seidman, Meyer Seligman, Erin Shea, Trina (Eager) Shiffman, 
     Tyler Shrive, Aliza (Fishbein) Silver, Tiffany Smith, 
     Kathleen Smith, LaShawnda Smith.
       Rhonda Smithson, Charles Snodgrass, Matt Sonnesyn, Daniel 
     Soto, Kristin (Nelson) Spiridon, Riley Stamper, Daniel 
     Stanley, Matthew Stern, Deborah Sturdivant, Bill Sullivan, 
     Carey Sullivan, Curtis Swager, Caroline Taylor, Rhonda 
     Thames, Josh Thomas, Nathan Thomas, Kristi Thompson, Sean 
     Thurman, Kara Townsend, Diane Tran.
        Bill Tucker, Harvey Valentine, Tim Valentine, Curtis Vann, 
     Matt Varino, Andy Vogt, Sandra Wade, Jack Wells, Marty West, 
     Mitch Whalen, Rob Wharton, Louann White, Donovan Whiteside, 
     Brent Wiles, Samantha Williams, Liz Wolgemuth, Mary 
     Wooldridge, Liz Wroe, Sharon Yecies, Alicyn York
  Mr. ALEXANDER. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, first, let me join with so many of my 
colleagues in wishing our distinguished friend and Senator from 
Tennessee best wishes.
  Thank you, Senator Alexander, for your incredible leadership and 
working across the aisle. So many good things that you have talked 
about are so meaningful to all of us. I appreciate the way you have 
conducted yourself with the committees and with Members, and I have 
enjoyed the opportunity to work with you. Electric vehicles didn't 
quite get across the line this year with what we wanted to do in terms 
of tax cuts, but I appreciate the chance to have been able to partner 
with you. Certainly, I wish you the best in your next steps in work as 
you end the year with your family. In whatever you do, I know you will 
be very successful.

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