[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S5084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Remembering Mike Enzi

  Madam President, today, I join my colleagues to mourn the passing of 
my friend, former Senator Mike Enzi.
  Just a few months ago, Mike stood here in this very Chamber, on 
December 22, to say farewell to this institution and his colleagues. 
After 24 years, the people of his beloved State--serving them--he 
returned home to Wyoming.
  To the good people of Wyoming, I thank you for sharing Mike with us 
for a couple of dozen years. He was a guiding light here in the U.S. 
Senate. He worked effectively to find common ground and bridge partisan 
divide for the public good.

  Mike practiced, by word and by deed, the mission statement that he 
created for his office: Do what is right; do our best; and treat others 
as they wish to be treated.
  In his farewell speech here on the Senate floor, he told us about the 
80-percent tool as an effective way to govern. Mike was a pragmatist. 
He understood good laws aren't made with a sledgehammer. It takes 
craftsmanship, consensus, and common sense. As Mike said, focus on the 
80 percent of an issue where we can find agreement and then discard the 
other 20 percent.
  Today, as Congress seeks to reach consensus on a host of important 
issues, we would do well to follow Mike's advice. We need more of that 
bipartisan buy-in that Mike brought from his State of Wyoming to 
Washington, DC, and the Halls of Congress. I was honored to partner on 
so many bread-and-butter issues that had a direct impact on hard-
working families, farmers, breadwinners, and small businesses.
  As many of you know, I help on our family farm in New Hartford, IA. 
Mike started and ran a family-owned shoe store in Gillette, his home 
there in Wyoming. Meeting payroll, paying bills, and making ends meet 
informed in each of us a philosophy about government spending and 
conservative management of the taxpayers' money. As disciples of fiscal 
discipline, we evangelized, caucused, and fought together to hold the 
line on reckless spending.
  Too many people in Washington forget that taxpayers' dollars don't 
grow on trees. It is the people's money. Mike knew how to crunch 
numbers and watch over the Federal purse better than all of us. He was 
an accountant and put his expertise to work as chairman of the Senate 
Budget Committee. He held the Federal bureaucracy to account and kept 
Congress accountable to the American people.
  Reelected by wide margins, Mike relished retail politics and fought 
for small businesses and retailers at the policymaking tables. Barbara 
and I traveled to Gillette once to attend a political event with Mike 
and his wife Diana. The feeling in the crowd was insightful; the Enzis 
are beloved in Wyoming.
  Mike kept in touch with the grassroots, traveling Wyoming as 
extensively as I travel to every corner of Iowa. However, he always 
made time to foster relationships with friends, former staff, and, of 
course, his family.
  I don't often socialize in Washington, but I made an exception for my 
friend Mike Enzi. I joined the Enzis' weekly Tortilla Coast dinner when 
I could. My wife Barbara joined every chance she had, and she did it 
much more often than I did.
  On each Senator's birthday, Mike would write a long, heartfelt 
birthday note with a personal P.S. I looked forward to reading his 
birthday wish every year and the advice--very good advice--that he 
included in it. There was always a piece of advice or a challenge for 
the year ahead.
  Mike was humble. Mike was approachable. Mike was respected by all. He 
was a true friend of this Senate. I recall those parting words from the 
gentle giant of Gillette, WY: I like being a Senator, not for the 
title, not for the recognition, and certainly not for the publicity. I 
like solving Federal problems for Wyoming people. I like doing 
legislation.
  And, of course, Mike did just that. Barbara and I extend our 
heartfelt sympathy to Diana and his children as well. May God bless 
Mike, a faithful servant of the Lord. And we saw that faithfulness to 
the Lord as he led the Wednesday morning Senate prayer meeting on a 
very regular basis. And may He bring you and your family peace and 
comfort, today and always