[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Tribute to Michael B. Enzi

  Madam President, Mike Enzi, of Wyoming, is retiring after 24 years. 
Mike is an unassuming fellow. He is the only accountant in the Senate. 
He is impossible to defeat in Wyoming, apparently, because he drives 
200 or 300 miles every weekend to every ice cream social that was 
invented, and if it had not been invented, he and Diana created it.
  While he has been here, he has created the 80-percent rule, which 
says: Let's not argue about the 20 percent we disagree on, and let's 
look for the 80 percent we can work together on.
  He was persistent in his work in the Marketplace Fairness Act, which 
kept the Federal Government from telling States what to tax and what 
not to tax and allowed the States to collect sales tax for goods that 
were sold in their States from out of State. That passed the Senate 
thanks to Mike's work. It didn't pass the House, but the Senate agreed 
with Senator Enzi, and most States are grateful in this COVID period of 
time to have their revenues enhanced by the work of Mike Enzi.
  The Perkins Act--helping to create a better workforce in the United 
States--was a difficult bill to pass, but Mike Enzi was the one who put 
it together.
  Of course, he left his opportunity to be chairman of the committee I 
now chair--Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions--so that he could be 
the chairman of the Budget Committee. While there, he worked hard to 
solve a problem that still needs to be solved--that of balancing our 
Federal budget, which, in the end, will require our finding a fair way 
to control the growth of entitlements.