[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5112-S5114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING MIKE ENZI
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, let me thank my friend for recognizing me
for something that I consider to be and that he considers to be and the
rest of the Senate considers to be very significant.
Our hearts are very heavy today because, like so many of my
colleagues, I am mourning the death of my dearest friend, Senator Mike
Enzi of Wyoming. I say ``dearest friend'' because he is.
Mike Enzi was the quiet leader in the Senate. There aren't too many
quiet leaders in the Senate. And when he talked, everyone listened, and
that is a rare quality in a Senator. He was humble.
Now, other than his humility, we had a lot in common. We were both
businessmen before getting into politics, and we had that in common. We
were both mayors of major cities. We had that in common. We were
elected to the Senate within just about the same time. Just a very
short time after the first, the second came along. So we had a lot in
common.
Something people might not know about Mike is that he had a heart for
the downtrodden. He helped people that no one else helped. I mean, that
is unusual. And the thing is, nobody knew that, just a handful of
people who were with him.
One of the places where I spent a lot of time with him, as a couple
of other Members, John Boozman from Arkansas and Mike Rounds from South
Dakota, and others--we were with him in some of these places where no
one else really knew what he was doing. Some people might not know
about Mike that he had a heart for the downtrodden, to help people that
no one else would help.
And I spent this morning reminiscing with friends of mine from all
over the world who were calling up. Most of them are in different time
zones, and they found out about Mike's death later on. And that put us
in a position where we were talking to old friends that Mike and we had
in common, and that happened most of the night. And the stories came
from all over the world.
I think, over the coming days and weeks, America is going to learn a
lot more about Mike Enzi. The only reason they never knew it before was
because he was humble, but you will see that he had a hidden impact on
people. He had an impact on people that resonated for long periods of
time, for years. He deserved enormous credit for his lifetime of
service but accepted none.
We both have a heart for Africa and traveled there often, whether to
promote our work that we were doing officially or the great
partnerships, or for Mike to see the implementation of PEPFAR.
And I say this because, if you were to single out one bill that
helped more people than any other bill, likely, arguably, in the U.S.
Senate, it would be PEPFAR. You know, Mike was the leading architect of
PEPFAR when AIDS was running rage across the globe.
We all remember that. Everywhere we looked, the people were
contracted with AIDS, especially in underserved places like Africa, and
it was time for the United States to step up. President George W. Bush
was committed to whatever funds it might require.
Keep in mind that this, arguably, was the most significant,
heartwarming thing that had ever happened in the Senate. So George W.
Bush said: We will come with any funds that might be required.
The job of the Senate was to structure the way the money was to be
spent, but we needed someone to lead it. And that was what the
President at that time said.
Well, the majority leader at that time--at that time, the Republicans
were in the majority. So we had the majority leader in the Senate at
that time, who was Dr. Bill Frist of Tennessee. We remember him, the
fine job that he did.
I remember him looking over at the assembled Members of our caucus
and thinking--because he told me this afterwards--he was thinking:
Millions of lives are at stake. Who do I entrust with this job?
Millions of lives are at stake. Who do I entrust with this job? His
answer was: Mike Enzi, the shoe salesman from Gillette.
That bill, PEPFAR, is one of the greatest, most generous, most
effective bills passed in my lifetime and the most significant piece of
legislation ever for the continent of Africa. It was Mike Enzi's skill,
toughness, compassion, and determination that got it done and kept it
on track for a decade.
[[Page S5113]]
Millions of lives have been saved. Millions of lives have been saved as
a result of that one mission of Mike Enzi.
Mike had a story he would tell about his approach to tough problems.
I have heard this probably 50 times over the years, but I still wish I
could hear it and hear him tell it one more time. I will try to do it
justice.
Mike was in South Africa. By the way, this thing that happened to him
down there was something that changed his whole mission of prayer. He
was with Paul. I can't tell you what Paul's last name was. Mike
couldn't tell us what Paul's last name was. But he was a leader in
South Africa. On one of his first visits, Mike asked Paul what he could
do for him. Paul asked Mike to pray, and Mike said he would pray for
solutions.
The way Mike told it, Paul leapt up and slammed his fist on the table
and exclaimed: No. He said: We pray for people, and then the issues
will solve themselves. Pray for the people.
See, this is what changed his whole prayer behavior until his death.
Mike took that to heart and truly lived it. He kept the people as his
focus, knowing that by doing so, the solutions would follow. Throughout
his trips, he was always there. He was always there. When we couldn't
find Mike, he would be with the kids, with kids who had problems.
In Tanzania, one of the--the first call I got this morning was from
Lazaro. He is from Tanzania. He was first to express his condolences
about Mike.
Then the second call that I got--the first call was from the Congo.
They started a prayer breakfast there, where he brought together
political enemies, and that is still going on. So Mike had started a
prayer breakfast in the Republic of the Congo, in a place where it is
still going on today.
Uganda--another one. He went up to northern Uganda. We were together
at that time. We went with him to see the devastation of Joseph Kony
and the LRA. The people in this Chamber know about the LRA, the Lord's
Resistance Army. And it was Joseph Kony. Remember Joseph Kony? He would
be the guy who would go and take the kids out of the villages and teach
them to shoot and kill people. I am talking about 10-year-old kids, 11-
year-old kids. If they didn't learn, they had to go back to their
village and murder their parents. It was something that went on for a
long period of time.
This is Mike. Both of them were here in both of these pictures. The
top one is that area in northern Uganda where all that was taking
place, where Joseph Kony was going through these horrible things
Diana was there. Diana is with one of the nuns who was there at that
time.
The next picture down there--where is that one? That is also Uganda.
Yes, that was also Uganda. Those little kids were nearing the age where
they would be captured and sent, and he was able to stop that.
Ethiopia, Yetabon. Yetabon was a place where we had a loved one,
someone we really cared a lot for. She did so much for poor people.
Yetabon was a place where they would go up and teach people, this very
charitable group did.
We used to call Mike the socks and shoes man. He was a shoe salesman.
That is how he started out, as a shoe salesman. He somehow got a hold
of more shoes and soccer balls to take to places in needy areas,
primarily in Africa. So that is where we spent time with him.
Rwanda. The next picture you have--this has the President of Rwanda
and his wife Jeannette, and here is Jeannette down here with his wife.
It was something that we all loved. In fact, we had the wives there,
four Members of the Senate, who were there with us at that time. This
is more of the things we just did together.
In Kenya, a very similar thing happened.
This is another thing that is taking place today. In Kenya, we went
to the National Prayer Breakfast. That was 6 or 7 years ago. We were
there, and we had played a part in that National Prayer Breakfast. But
at the time, there had been a guy named Kenyatta, who was President of
Kenya, and Odinga. Odinga and Kenyatta were bitter enemies, and they
talked about killing each other. They actually tried several times. But
Mike made a statement there, with 4,000 witnesses in Kenya, and told a
story about love and how these people had loved these two members when
their Parliaments were together many years ago, that they loved each
other, and invited them to come up and to embrace, and they did that.
That was between two groups of people headed up by Kenyatta and Odinga,
and they became, right at that point, friends for life. Today, they are
still friends. Kenyatta is retiring, and Odinga most likely will be
elected to be his successor. Now, that was years ago when that
happened.
Western Sahara. Right now, we are fighting this thing. We are very
much on the side of the Western Sahara in the fight.
The picture you are looking at, I think, is a picture of President
Ghali. President Ghali, yes. Wherever we went, we would also see--Mike
would disappear. These are the only two he could find in that area who
were from his State. But nonetheless, there he is with the leader, the
President of that country.
John Kufuor--the same thing happened. John Kufuor--it is kind of
funny because if you go to Ghana--and not to be confused with Uganda--
but in Ghana, it is funny because there are more people there, more
Jesus people there than anywhere else. So he named a stand--to help
some people there, he called it Jesus for Jesus. That was Mike Enzi.
Malawi. He started a prayer group in Malawi. The young
parliamentarians on this early visit--Lazarus was one of the original
members and is now President of Malawi. Now, we are getting a bit old
now, but this happened a long time ago. He was close with him, and that
is another call that we got early this morning.
There are probably half a dozen other countries in Africa we visited
together and a dozen or so outside of the continent. No matter how
difficult the trip was, whether he was getting left in Kosovo, which
actually happened--he was with a bunch of kids in Kosovo, and we
miscounted our passengers and left him in Kosovo and had to go back and
get him. But no matter how difficult the trip was by the codel, leading
to a new term called ``getting Enzi'd''--so that is a new term that we
use here in the U.S. Senate. If you are late someplace and you get left
alone, you are ``getting Enzi'd''; or in Uganda when the ceiling in his
hotel room fell on him when he was sleeping. He was always there no
matter how tough things were.
It was more than the policy for Mike; he also loved people--I mean
all people. We couldn't go anywhere without him packing hundreds of
soccer balls and shoes to give away to kids.
Now, how it happened, soccer balls and shoes--I don't know how many
thousands of soccer balls and shoes that he had distributed to these
kids, but one thing they all had in common: They were all barefoot when
they started.
One of the things that we attributed to him because it was one of his
favorite proverbs, Proverbs 31:8-9--this actually is not by Solomon;
this is by someone a lot of people haven't heard of. It was King
Lemuel. ``Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the
rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the
rights of the poor and needy.'' That was the impact that Mike had on
everyone.
He and Diana also regularly hosted parties for Capitol staff. This is
kind of interesting because we are used to parties around here. There
are lots of parties to go to. Every night, there are parties and all
that, but not Mike's parties. Mike's parties were for the people, for
the staff. They were for the people you didn't see every day. You would
see them every day, but you would never give appreciation to them: the
cleaning staff, food service, electricians, and others. These are the
people he invited, and he and his wife would do together, would hold
these parties for them. Diana enjoyed it just as much as Mike did. He
loved those parties.
He also loved talking about how, during one of them, he was talking
to an electrician in the Capitol, some guy who was working as an
electrician in the Capitol, who kept the place going every day--we
understand that--and then the man turned to him after they had talked
for a long period of time. Mike had asked him what an electrician does
around the Capitol and all
[[Page S5114]]
that. When he got all through, he looked at Mike and said: Well, Mike,
what do you do? So that was Mike. He never wanted attention from
anyone. He always laughed about that story. That was good
Now, we are talking today about how much of a team Mike and Diana
were and how well they complemented each other. She was saying how much
fun they were to be with because they truly enjoyed everything that
they did. As Kay put it--my wife--she said: They both looked for ways
to help people. While Mike was steadfast and intentional, Diana was a
whirlwind of energy that brought the vision to life.
You know, Kay and Mike were also both members of the Zipper Club--I
bet you guys don't know what the Zipper Club was--because they both had
their heart valves replaced about the same time. My wife used a cow
valve, and Mike used a mechanical valve. Diana would always tell Kay
that she could hear Mike's valve rattling at night. So Kay always told
him that he should have had it done with a cow valve.
You know, these are very important subjects we are talking about
here. But they are things that make memories. That is really who he is
and who he was.
Mike never missed our weekly Senate Prayer Breakfasts, where he was a
leader for many years. He even had a card with all 100 Senators--that
is all the Senators who are here in this room right now--all 100
Senators, and he divided 100 Senators up into 5 groups. So he would
pray for 20 Senators each day.
One time when he was leading the Prayer Breakfast, he invited King
Abdullah from Jordan to join us. In fact, King Abdullah was here last
week, and I shared this story with him because he was always a little
nervous about what he was going to say. The Lord gave him a verse, and
it was an excellent example of prayer uniting those different faiths.
We are talking about the Muslims and Mike Enzi. So King Abdullah paid
homage to him, saying he should have been there again.
Even after he retired from the Senate, he joined us every week and
virtually for prayer and discussion and fellowship. Tomorrow's
breakfast will not be the same because he retired from the Senate just
a few months ago, but he attended every one of our Prayer Breakfasts
virtually. So, as Mike Rounds said, I got to know Mike on a deeper
level each week. But more than anything else, bigger than any other
accomplishment, was Mike's love for his family.
Mike was utterly devoted to his family for more than 50 years: Diana;
the three children, Amy, Emily, and Brad; and their grandchildren. Come
to think of it, Mike's favorite topics were Jesus, the family, and
fishing.
Now, you might think that trout fishing wouldn't be anyone's favorite
thing to do if they are a Member of the Senate. But he would travel
around. There is not a lot of people but a lot of land in Wyoming. One
of the problems he would have, his staff would tell me, was that they
would line up something he was supposed to be doing in another part of
the State, but he would go across the creek someplace, and he would get
out and, if he was catching fish, he would completely forget about
where he was going to go. And the staffs don't enjoy that type of
thing.
Nonetheless, that is what he did. He knew how to fly-fish. In fact,
one of the things we were anticipating from Mike and Diana was that Kay
and I spent a lot of time--people don't realize that in the State of
Oklahoma we have more miles of freshwater shoreline than in any of the
50 States. Do you believe that? Yes, it is true. Nonetheless, he loved
to fish.
One of the things they were going to do when they retired, Mike and
Diana, was that they were planning to travel Route 66 and go all the
way across. Well, the cabin we have in Lake Texoma, OK, is right on
Route 66. So they were planning to come and join us.
Kay and I join the entire Enzi family together in their grief and in
celebrating the remarkable life of a true servant leader, Mike Enzi.
And all we say is: Mike, we will see you soon.
I yield the floor.
____________________