[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Pat Roberts

  Mr. President, my colleagues, Senator Pat Roberts, as we know, is the 
longest serving member of Congress in Kansas history. He leaves the 
Senate as a giant in his home State and a true champion for the people 
of Kansas.
  In his words, he is a Kansan ``through and through,'' born in Topeka, 
earning his journalism degree from Kansas State, and representing 
Kansas for 16 years in the House and 22 years in the Senate.
  I serve on the Agriculture Committee, and he has been my chairman. I 
have been proud to serve with him as a fellow farm-State Senator, where 
he has been a champion for the breadbasket of America, as Kansas is 
known.
  He has also worked tirelessly to honor those legendary Kansans who 
came before him. Earlier this year, Senator Roberts was there to cut 
the ribbon at the dedication of the Eisenhower Memorial, a monument he 
has been devoted to as chairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, 
and I know he is one of the few members of Congress who can actually 
say he met President Eisenhower. At the dedication, Senator Roberts 
remarked that ``Eisenhower understood one person's ability to chart his 
or her own course and change the course of the world.'' That is 
something Senator Roberts has done often, in a quiet manner.
  I have really admired the way he worked across the aisle with Senator 
Stabenow every day. They didn't always agree on everything, but they 
found common ground. I got to work with him on a number of issues--
ensuring that our wheat growers would get sorely needed relief through 
the CARES program, making the Tax Code consistent with how farmers 
finance new equipment, and protecting our food supply chain through 
investments in science and research.
  When I think about the legacy Chairman Roberts will leave, I think 
about those investments in science and research through the creation of 
the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and the National Bio 
and Agro-Defense Facility.
  Both of these facilities will play a critical role in helping today's 
farmers and ranchers tackle the many challenges that they face. He has 
also been cochair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, working to ensure 
quality healthcare--not just in urban areas where it is so important 
but also in rural areas.
  We both come from families of newspapermen. Senator Roberts' great-
grandfather, J.W. Roberts, founded the Oskaloosa Independent, the 
second oldest newspaper in Kansas. And my dad started at a Minneapolis 
paper as a sports reporter, where his main beat was the Minnesota 
Vikings. Maybe the things that we have in common stop there, but, 
certainly, that newspaper background is something we have talked about 
and shared.
  I will miss Senator Roberts' humor, and I will miss his good work and 
look forward to continuing to work with Senator Stabenow and Senator 
Boozman as leaders of the Agriculture Committee.