[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 213 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Doug Jones

  Madam President, let me turn now to my dear friend Doug Jones. I have 
had the privilege to serve alongside Doug Jones both on the Armed 
Services Committee and the Banking Committee during his time in the 
Senate.
  Doug has had a long and successful career helping those who need it 
most and doing what is right even if the price is. Yet I was still 
struck, time and again, by his dedication to the welfare of our 
servicemembers and veterans and their families--something I witnessed 
firsthand when we traveled together to visit servicemembers in Iraq and 
Afghanistan last year, and nowhere was Doug's commitment to these 
Americans more apparent than in last year's National Defense 
Authorization Act.
  Doug was greatly troubled that thousands of Gold Star families were 
being unfairly shortchanged by certain laws related to survivor 
benefits. So, Doug, like he has throughout his professional life, went 
to work to right an injustice. He introduced the bipartisan Military 
Widow's Tax Elimination Act and was the Democratic lead on the Gold 
Star Family Tax Relief Act. I was proud to help Doug enact these bills, 
which allow military widows and widowers and their children to receive 
the full survivor benefits they are entitled to, as part of the fiscal 
year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Doug's work on these 
issues has directly improved the lives of tens of thousands of Gold 
Star families who have given so much to our country.
  Naturally, Doug worked hard again this year to shape the fiscal year 
2021 National Defense Authorization Act, and he shaped it for the 
better. The legislation includes a provision written by Doug requiring 
a GAO audit of continuing efforts to ensure that racial and gender 
disparities in the military justice system are properly addressed and 
eliminated. He was also instrumental during the markup of the fiscal 
year 2021 NDAA when the committee voted to remove the names of 
confederate soldiers from our military installations, and in the wake 
of the deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Doug met with 
the family of a slain Navy ensign, Kaleb Watson, and subsequently 
fought for two specific provisions in the fiscal year 2021 NDAA to 
require military installations to plan or conduct live emergency 
response training events to help prevent such tragic shootings in the 
future.
  Doug also continued his career-long fight for civil rights while in 
the Senate. He enacted the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection 
Act, which requires the review and release of unsolved civil rights 
case records to help deliver justice for the victims' families, and he 
has been a passionate defender of voting rights for all Americans.
  Doug has never been afraid to take a difficult vote or to speak out 
for what is right. We will miss Doug's persistence and 
conscientiousness in the Senate. I salute him and wish him well in his 
future endeavors.