[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 133 (Saturday, August 6, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4153-S4154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 HONORING AND CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF REPRESENTATIVE JACKIE 
                                WALORSKI

  Mr. YOUNG. I yield myself 10 minutes from the bill time.
  Mr. President, I rise today to honor the lives of four Hoosiers who 
were lost tragically in a car accident this week, Edith Schmucker, 
Zachary Potts, Emma Thomson, and Representative Jackie Walorski. We 
grieve them all, and we pray for their families and friends.
  This is, of course, a profoundly difficult time for those of us who 
knew one or more of these Hoosiers. It is such a difficult time for 
their families and their friends, and all of us, I know, we commit to 
do whatever it is in our power to comfort their loved ones in the 
difficult days ahead.
  Like everyone here and back home in Indiana, I am absolutely 
heartbroken. I think one thing that hit everyone particularly hard was 
the loss of two young congressional staff members.
  Whether you knew Zach or Emma personally or not, you certainly know 
their type if you are watching these proceedings on Capitol Hill. You 
know the type of hard-working, smart, committed, young person that 
comes to work on a congressional staff. They dedicate so much of their 
time and their talents. Other opportunities are given up in order to 
serve their country and to work toward the betterment of their Nation.
  We should celebrate their accomplishments while we grieve their loss. 
It is a reminder, I think, for all of us to thank the many 
congressional staff members who do much more than the public will ever 
know.
  I want to take a few minutes today to pay tribute to our colleague 
right here in the Halls of Congress, Jackie Walorski.
  Jackie and I came to Congress at roughly the same time--she, 2 years 
after me--and I will never forget when she arrived here at the U.S. 
Capitol. Jackie didn't need time to get her ``sea legs.'' No, Jackie 
knew that she belonged here. Jackie understood that this was her 
calling. She didn't need people to tell her that she belonged. She got 
right to work because she had some things to accomplish.
  I have to say that her confidence was infectious. Everyone saw it. 
Everyone was impressed by it. People loved being around her, including 
me.
  Jackie had so many other amazing qualities, and I would like to 
highlight a number of those today. She was always so full of energy. It 
was a positive energy. She was a lightning bolt. She could light up a 
room like no other.
  In fact, in my observation, she only had two speeds, it was full-bore 
on and off. She was high-spirited and full of fire.
  Jackie also had a really big heart. In fact, her heart was as big as 
it was good. She wore it on her sleeve every day, every moment of the 
day.
  She didn't hide her convictions. In fact, she made sure that they 
were expressed in the boldest, most colorful fashion. Her convictions 
were deeply held. She was proud of them. It is what made Jackie 
``Jackie.'' She was of deep convictions, clearly, not just with her 
politics. No, it came from a deeper place. She had deep convictions 
with respect to her religious faith.
  I have to say that for all the many speeches I saw her deliver and 
for all the people I saw her energize, it was often after she delivered 
a prayer--and I saw her deliver a number of those--that audiences gave 
their most heartfelt ovations.
  Jackie was a larger than life figure, but Jackie was never fake. She 
was never contrived. She was beloved, in fact, because she inspired and 
motivated people with a passion that was so authentic, so human.
  And Jackie cared about the people she connected with. She was 
genuinely concerned. She was what you might call the genuine article.
  Jackie was also very smart, not just energetic. She was very smart. 
As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, you could see that 
on a regular basis. But even in a casual conversation, Jackie had a 
habit of cutting right to the issue. But, more importantly, Jackie was 
smart about the people she represented. She knew their hearts. She knew 
their concerns. She knew their challenges. She knew their aspirations. 
She studied them. She lived it. She stayed in touch with them.
  She never forgot whom she worked with. She never forgot whom she 
worked for, and she never forgot who sent her to Washington.
  Jackie also had courage. She was a fearless leader. You see this in 
your best leaders. She didn't flinch in the face of tough votes. No, 
Jackie was smart enough to know the consequences, but she wasn't 
afraid. She did what she thought was right. She did it for the right 
reasons, and she had enough self-confidence to go explain her votes to 
her constituents. It was, at once, a confidence in herself, but it was 
also a confidence in those she represented.
  She was a leader, confident in her own abilities and confident in the 
abilities of those around her.
  If there is a single memory of Jackie's time in this building, the 
U.S. Capitol and, I would say, her time in the Indiana statehouse, it 
was that she is indeed a leader. Since Jackie's passing, I have had the 
opportunity to discuss her service, her life with a number of people, 
and this keeps coming up. She was a real leader. This is what they are 
talking about.
  For all of these amazing qualities, I have to say personally that 
there is something else that I keep coming back to. It is the first 
thing I come back to when I think of Jackie, and, frankly, it is very 
personal to me.
  I am going to miss Jackie's laughter. She had a beautiful, bellowing 
laugh, uninhibited, so authentic, not contrived. It came from a place 
where she appreciated humor. She appreciated, at times, the absurdity 
of life.
  She always had a joke at hand or funny observation to make, or maybe 
she had read something recently she wanted to share with me. But we had 
so many great laughs together, and she could make my side hurt in 
fairly short order. I am going to miss that.
  And it is really hard to believe that our paths won't ever cross 
again. They crossed so frequently, sometimes in this building but, 
typically, it was in Indiana's Second Congressional District, back 
home. It was rare, I would say, that I didn't go into that region and 
encounter her or, at least, follow in her tracks.
  She was so active, so engaged. I am going to miss those encounters. 
Just a few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to visit with Jackie in 
person. We shared some laughs, of course. It was at a dinner in Elkhart 
County.
  We were scheduled to be together this coming week to attend a ribbon-
cutting ceremony. She was constantly on the road serving, doing her 
job. It is not too much to say that that was her calling.
  It is also not too much to say that Jackie's last breath was spent in 
service, in service to her constituents, to her God, to the great State 
of Indiana, to her country, to her calling.
  Jackie loved and she was ever faithful to all of those things to the 
great benefit of Indiana and America, and for that I am grateful, for 
that we loved her back, and we will miss her dearly. Let that be her 
legacy.
  I yield to my colleague from Indiana.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. BRAUN. I yield myself five minutes from the bill time.
  I rise today to honor the life of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski. 
Three others were lost in the tragic accident.
  Like I said last week, it is a real gut punch to any of us who knew 
Jackie and to Hoosiers across the board. The outpouring of grief for 
the lives lost has been immense in our State. As Hoosiers share their 
memories of them, you can see just how important all those lives were.
  Let me talk about Jackie. I got to know her early on when I was 
entertaining running for Senate. She was up in the north central part 
of Indiana, a place that I had been very little, and she was engaging. 
I spent get-togethers with her before and then after I was elected, and 
Todd said it well: Whomever she came across, she was their friend, full 
of enthusiasm. She never really knew a stranger.
  I got to know her better over the years since then, and I can tell 
you that faith, family, and community were the principles that guided 
her, and times of mourning show us just how important those things 
truly are.
  As the friends and family grieve for the four lives lost in this 
tragedy, I hope they can find consolation in their

[[Page S4154]]

faith, in their families, in their communities, and in the memory of 
their loved ones.
  Zach Potts was a rising presence in Indiana politics. He was the 
district chair, also the Republican chair of St. Joe County, an up-and-
comer. He is remembered by friends as someone who truly cared, who 
didn't ask, ``What's wrong?'' but instead asked, ``How can I help?''
  Emma Thomson, Jackie's communications director, is remembered by 
those who knew her as creative, funny, driven, committed to the idea 
that people are the most important thing in politics.
  Edith Schmucker is remembered as a loving mother and a big-hearted 
friend to all at the assisted living facility where she worked and 
served others.
  I hope you will join me and Todd in praying for their friends and 
their families. As we honor the lives of Jackie, Zach, Emma, and Edith, 
their legacies will live on in those whose lives they touched.
  And Jackie was a living testament to what it means to be a ``good and 
faithful servant.'' She lived it out every day, and she will truly be 
missed.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Rosen). The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. YOUNG. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of S. Res. 748, which is at the desk. I further 
ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and 
that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 748) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

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