[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 210 (Friday, December 11, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO PAT ROBERTS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I join my colleagues in thanking Senator 
Pat Roberts of Kansas for his service to his State and our Nation.
  Years ago, Pat Roberts and I served together on the House Agriculture 
Committee. We now serve together on the Senate Agriculture Committee. 
From our earliest days working together in House until today, Pat 
Roberts has been a consistent champion of Kansans and of farmers and 
people in small towns and rural communities across America.
  Through his leadership, Senator Roberts has shepherded eight 
bipartisan farm bills into law. Farmers say that farm bills give them 
the certainty that they can count on. Farmers could rely on Pat Roberts 
for that certainty too.
  Pat Roberts not only has worked to address the day-to-day challenges 
of agriculture, he also worked to prepare American farmers and ranchers 
for the future. From the creation of the Foundation for Food and 
Agriculture Research in the 2014 farm bill to protecting agriculture 
from disease by modernizing and building the National Bio and Agro-
Defense Facility in Kansas, Senator Roberts knew the value in investing 
in research. Most recently, he joined me in the America Grows Act to 
increase Federal investments in basic USDA research across the board.
  There is no doubt that Senator Roberts' legacy will reap benefits for 
years. But his commitment to rural communities didn't stop with 
farmers. In April 2018, I met with Illinois EMS advocates. We talked 
about how rural EMS are on the frontlines in delivering quality 
emergency response, service coordination, and patient care. They spoke 
about how they were responding to the opioid epidemic and treating the 
emergency needs of an aging population. I became convinced that 
Congress needed to find a way to support rural EMS agencies with 
Federal funding so they could better serve their communities, but I 
needed a partner for it. The solution was obvious. I found Senator 
Roberts in the Senate gym and pitched him on the bill.
  Within a few weeks, we introduced the Supporting and Improving Rural 
EMS Needs, or SIREN, Act. Senator Debbie Stabenow joined as a partner 
to the bill, and we started working hard to pass it. The SIREN Act was 
included in the 2018 farm bill. And this past summer, the first grant 
award went to Illinois when our healthcare providers needed it most for 
this pandemic.
  For four decades, Senator Roberts has been a significant part of 
Federal agriculture policy. He is the only lawmaker to have chaired 
both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees. Farm bills don't 
happen without bipartisanship, and Pat's legacy of bipartisanship is 
something we should honor in the future.
  It has been an honor and privilege, working with him. I will miss his 
bipartisan spirit and his dry wit. I wish him, his wife Franki, and 
their family happiness in his next chapter.

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