[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 189 (Tuesday, December 6, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6980-S6982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Farewell to the Senate

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, when I gave my first speech on the Senate 
floor 12 years ago or when I cast my first vote in the House 26 years 
ago, I had really no way to anticipate the challenges and opportunities 
that were ahead of us.
  I come to the floor today grateful for my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle and on both sides of the Capitol. When we agree and when we 
don't, we are bound by the Constitution to seek a more perfect Union.
  Of course, I am most grateful to Missourians, who have given me the 
chance to work with them as a county official, as the Missouri 
Secretary of State, and in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.
  Missouri is where the country comes together--the North meets the 
South, the East meets the West. No State has more States at its borders 
than us and only one with as many States as we have. We have been the 
population center of America for the last five decades in kind of 
moving down Interstate 44 as the population has moved west and south. 
We sit in the middle of the biggest piece of contiguous agricultural 
farmland in the world, and it is the only one that has its own built-in 
transportation system--the Mississippi River Valley.
  St. Louis is sometimes described as the westernmost eastern city, and 
Kansas City, really, may be more like Denver and Omaha than it is St. 
Louis. Springfield, where I live, kind of looks to the west and the 
south to Tulsa and to Fayetteville. The bootheel of our State is the 
Delta South in every way--the economy, the topography. What happens 
there is reflective of other places more than it is the rest of our 
State.
  I was in northern Missouri quite a bit this summer, and while in 
northern Missouri--those two counties that border Iowa--one of the 
people with me one day when I was the secretary of state said: When we 
are up here, I always feel like we are on top of the world.
  I never go to northern Missouri now unless I feel like I am on top of 
the world.
  Of course, every Senator thinks their State is unique, and it is. A 
couple of years ago, I spent a few minutes each day trying to figure 
out and, for about a period of 6 months, wondering how the other 99 
Members got here. With a couple of exceptions, I was able to figure it 
out.
  (Laughter.)
  I have some question in my mind about a couple of our friends, but as 
I looked at it, I figured out somebody has unique people skills, and 
other people have extraordinary political skills. Maybe it is the 
ability to quickly understand complicated things or the ability to 
explain complicated things so that other people can understand them. 
Most of the time, however, we just have an incredible amount of wasted 
talent. If you could take the collective talent of the 100 U.S. 
Senators and make the most of it, there is absolutely no telling what 
might happen.
  Now, part of that is because the Senate isn't expected to work 
efficiently. We don't have many rules, and what does get done usually 
gets done by either unanimous consent or total exhaustion. Those are 
our two stopping points. Our Federal Government was designed by people 
who didn't trust government and didn't want too much of it. They made 
it hard to get things done. They opted for inefficiency, and that 
inefficiency is really mind-boggling to people who are more familiar 
with the parliamentary system, where, if it doesn't get done and it 
isn't efficient, it fails. We certainly aren't built that way.
  We have clearly found new levels of inefficiency in the past decade--
one big bill at the end of the year to fund the government plus 
whatever the four leaders of the House and Senate can agree to add to 
it. Once again, we are at that year-ending process to cobble together 
some kind of result. Now, the only thing worse than the way we do it 
would be not doing it. The only thing worse than the way we do it is 
just to decide not to get our work done and see what happens. So we 
are, once again, down to the next 4 weeks to get our work done or, even 
better, the next 3 weeks. It wouldn't be bad if we got it done in the 
next 2 weeks, but we are following the pattern here, in my view, we 
have followed for too long.
  You know, I have seen the standard process of regular order work. In 
my first decade in the Congress, it never worked perfectly, but it came 
pretty close to the standard that had been set for two centuries. There 
is good reason for how a bill becomes a law whether you first saw it on 
a filmstrip, like I probably did, or on ``Schoolhouse Rock!'' like my 
kids did. You know how it is supposed to work: Members of a committee 
and staff who know the most about an issue hold hearings; they mark up 
a bill; the bill is to be debated and amended on the floor of both the 
House and the Senate before it goes to the President to be signed or 
vetoed. For 225 years, the topics of what to fund and how to pay for it 
have dominated the congressional debate, and we, frankly, need to get 
back to that, where people see what is going on and Members feel bought 
in to what is going on.

  But then and now, during that whole time, whether regular order was 
working or not, the rules of the Senate really required finding someone 
on the other side to work with. There have never been more than 56 
popularly elected Republican Senators and only a handful of times have 
there been 60 or more Democrats. Finding someone on the other side to 
work with produces the most lasting results.
  A couple of Congresses ago, there were 52 on my side and 48 on the 
other side. My staff decided it would be interesting--they came to me 
one day and said: We just thought it would be interesting to check and 
see how many of the 48 Democrats you figured out how to be the 
principal sponsor of a bill with. The answer was 44. I thought that was 
a pretty good number.
  My point then and now is you don't have to agree on everything to 
work together; you just have to agree on one thing. And if you find 
that one thing you agree on and, frankly, particularly if you are 
successful, both the Members working together and their staffs think: 
Well, gee, we could do that again.
  In healthcare research, Senator Murray and I, along with Chairman 
Cole on the House side and, eventually, the ranking member, then-
Chairman DeLauro, worked together to significantly change NIH research.

[[Page S6981]]

  Senator Klobuchar and I have done lots of things together. We have 
worked on the travel economy, which is a big part of our economy. We 
have worked to rewrite the workplace harassment standards for the 
Senate. We have worked on adoption issues.
  Senator Brown and I passed a bill of advanced manufacturing. We had 
known each other for years. Once we figured out we could pass one bill 
together, we passed five. It has the good effect.
  Senator Stabenow and I have worked so hard on Certified Community 
Behavioral Health Centers. We have worked on this for well over a 
decade now, and we have made, I think, incredible progress. Neither of 
us would have gotten that done by ourselves.
  Senators Capito and Shaheen and Portman and Manchin all worked with 
me and our committee on opioid and dependency issues. We were making 
real progress. I think the pandemic set that progress back, but it 
shouldn't stop us from moving forward.
  Senator Coons founded with me the Law Enforcement Caucus. We worked, 
every time it came up, to expand it and the Victims of Child Abuse Act 
and the volunteer community efforts.
  There are other retiring Members I want to mention whom I have worked 
with as well: Senator Leahy and Senator Shelby, both on the 
Appropriations Committee and the Rules Committee. You know, on the 
Appropriations Committee, I got to see the last of Senator Inouye and 
Senator Cochran still at their best and Barbara Mikulski--people who 
didn't have to have a perfect result to have a result--and it was 
wonderful to get to watch them work.
  Senator Inhofe was, obviously, totally focused on what it takes to 
defend the country. He was here for his remarks, his farewell speech, 
the other day and pointed out that he found somebody he didn't agree 
with on hardly anything--Barbara Boxer--and they came up with public 
works bill after public works bill.
  Senator Burr, who is leaving, has been my chairman on the 
Intelligence Committee and has been so capable and so knowledgeable on 
that committee. He has been really, incredibly, helpful to me.
  Senator Portman and I have been at the leadership table in both the 
House and the Senate. I have been in more meetings with Rob Portman 
than I have ever been with anybody I have ever served on a committee 
with, and it has been great.
  Pat Toomey, of course, brings incredible understanding of finance 
issues and the economy.
  My longest relationships, of course, are with my House colleagues. 
Senator Thune, Senator Moran, and I all came to the House at the same 
time along with Senator Stabenow. Senator Moran and Senator Boozman and 
I all came to the Senate together from the House.
  Senator Cardin, Senator Graham, Senator Cassidy, Senator Blackburn, 
Senator Brown, Senator Wicker, and others have been part of my work 
life for a long, long time. Together, we have faced big challenges. You 
know, after 9/11, we saw a new terrorist threat. I was in the middle of 
that discussion of the continuity of government when I had the sudden 
realization that our government could dramatically change, and we had 
not thought about what might happen if it did change.
  Dick Gephardt--my fellow Missourian and who was the Democratic leader 
at the time--and I came up with this structure for post-9/11 
compensation for victims, which worked. Unfortunately, it has worked 
following now with a number of tragedies, but it was something I was 
able to be there for as we put it together.
  You know, at that time, President Bush said:

       [W]e bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our 
     enemies.

  Four Presidents have now followed that standard.
  For me, the legislative highlights would, of course, include what 
happens at the NIH, where I have been able to be part of increasing by 
50 percent, over 8 years, with Senator Murray and others, the 
commitment we made to healthcare research.
  I mentioned Senator Stabenow earlier, but as for the mental health 
efforts, the changing that I think we have all seen here in just the 
last few years in how we talk about that issue and how we understand we 
need to respond to that issue is something I am particularly proud of.
  Now, maybe a bill with Senator Heinrich, the Recovering America's 
Wildlife Act, which every conservation group in America is supportive 
of--maybe we can add that to the list of things I am going to consider 
a great accomplishment before we leave here, and it has to go in that 
big bill I talked about earlier that we put together here at the end.
  I have had an incredible opportunity to be responsible for two 
inaugurations. It is one of the most important things we do. That 
particular event, not me being responsible for it, 100 million people 
watched live. Tens of millions of people around the world watched all 
or part of it after that. It is so important we get it right.
  In 2017, I decided our theme would be the peaceful transition of 
power. I remember at both inaugurations I quoted--the only thing I 
repeated, I think, at those two inaugurations was President Reagan who 
said in 1981: What we do here today is commonplace and miraculous--
commonplace because we have done it every 4 years since 1789, 
miraculous because we have done it every 4 years since 1789.
  In 2021, I said, well, this time, let's talk about our need to have a 
more perfect Union.
  The Founders didn't promise a perfect Union. They were, in that 
place, pretty reasonable in their anticipation of what we could do and 
what we could be, but they did promise a more perfect Union. And that 
is the effort we continue to be a part of.
  To get all of that done, so many other people have to make it 
possible. All of us appreciate every one of our families. I think we 
all appreciate each other's families because, better than anybody else, 
we know what families mean and how important it is that your family is 
part of this.
  My mom and dad were dairy farmers. They never suggested there were 
any limits to what a person could do in America. There was no sense 
that you couldn't do everything you wanted to do.
  I am most grateful to Abby, my wife. I wouldn't be in the Senate and 
wouldn't have stayed as long in the House as I did if Abby hadn't been 
willing to work so much, so hard to make it easier for me to do what I 
love to do. We are full partners, and I am grateful for that.
  All of my children and even their children, we are too often being 
asked to defend what I did or what I believed or, more often, what 
people assumed I believed that they got to be a part of history too. 
Charlie Blunt was flying on Air Force One with President Bush on his 
second birthday. Who gets to do that?
  I will admit, though, however, no one in my family ever said, I wish 
you would quit. But when I did announce, did decide I was going to 
leave 2 years ago, I notice that no one said ``Are you sure?'' except 
Abby, who did say ``Are you sure?''
  I have often said if you can only have one skill, that one skill 
should be hiring. And what a great staff that skill and good luck have 
produced for me.
  My incredible chief of staff, Stacy McBride, has been responsible for 
so much of what we have gotten done. My deputy chief for the State, 
Derek Coats, led a great team that did so much for our State and in 
helping people deal with the Federal Government. My deputy chief of 
staff here, Richard Eddings, is, along with me, completing 26 years in 
the Congress and 26 years of working together. He managed the details 
for the whip's office in the House and the details for our office in 
the Senate.
  The Rules Committee staff takes responsibility to help manage the 
daily infrastructure of the Senate. No issue is too small or too big. 
Everything from security decisions for the Presidential inauguration to 
a recent call to ask whether we could release someone's pet owl in the 
Russell courtyard so that the owl would have a home and we would all 
appreciate it. Senator Klobuchar and I quickly decided it probably 
wouldn't be good for the Russell courtyard or the owl, so that owl was 
not released.
  The Republican Policy Committee staff deals with every vote on the 
floor, every nomination, every issue. There is

[[Page S6982]]

a paper out there explaining all of those things, every bill that has 
been filed, every amendment, even to the dreaded vote-arama that staff 
was getting an amendment ready so voters know what they see.
  Let me end this farewell with two things: One is another thank-you to 
Missouri voters.
  In my view, the need to find a solution to a problem really took 
place and took shape in the Greene County courthouse. I have been in 
all 115 of our counties since I announced I wasn't going to run again. 
There have been some question in my house as to the judgment of that 
schedule, but we are through that now, so it is done. In a lot of those 
courthouses, I was visiting with county officials and said: In my view, 
there is nowhere in America you are more likely to get a solution to a 
governmental problem than a county courthouse filled with local elected 
officials who want to do everything they can possibly do for you to 
feel like you left with everything done that could possibly be done.
  And then, going to be the first Republican secretary of state elected 
in Missouri in 52 years when I won that office in 1984, I never thought 
my leading argument was: Why don't you vote for the first Republican 
ever. I thought it was: If you vote for me, I will do this job, and you 
will be pleased that you did give me a chance to do it. So I am 
grateful to them and grateful for the experience.
  There is a story that Senator Klobuchar has told more often than I 
have. When I became the chief deputy whip, on my way to becoming the 
whip of the House, the first month of my second term in the Congress, I 
moved from the Cannon Building to the Capitol Building. And I looked on 
the top of the bookcase in my office, my new office in the Congress, 
and there was this bust of a person up there.
  And I said to my staff: Let's find out who that is. So they come back 
a couple of weeks later, and they have got these newspaper articles 
from the 1930s and 1960s, and they say: Well, nobody knows who that is.
  It is obvious when you get that bust down and look at it that it is a 
cleric. So it was the unknown cleric, and it has been with me ever 
since in one of my offices here.
  The point of the unknown cleric, this is a bust that was put in the 
Capitol probably no earlier than 1830, and by 1930, nobody had any idea 
who it was.
  I had lots of meetings with new freshman members in the House when I 
was a whip and a number of meetings with people who just happened to be 
around and would listen to this. I said: The point of this is somebody 
is famous enough that they made a bust, put it in the Capitol, and then 
forgot who they are. The point is: What we do here is more important 
than who we are. Thanks for letting me do part of it with you.
  I yield the floor.
  (Applause.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Missouri.