[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 198 (Tuesday, December 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9623-S9624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO RETIRING SENATORS

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, the end of every Congress brings with it 
the reality that fellow colleagues in the Senate will no longer serve 
with us when the new Congress convenes in January. As we rush to 
complete the work of this Congress and in our eagerness to return home 
to spend time with our families for the holidays, it is important that 
we pause to thank departing Members for their years of public service 
to their constituents and to the country. On December 15, I spoke on 
the floor to commend the Senate service of my fellow Pennsylvanian, 
Senator Pat Toomey.
  Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont has served nearly 48 years in the 
Senate, and his list of accomplishments is as long as his tenure. I 
first got to know Senator Leahy when I was a new Senator and a junior 
member of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Foresty, a 
committee that Senator Leahy once chaired. I was able to work with him 
and learn from him about all issues related to the dairy farming, which 
is of particular importance to both Vermont and my home State of 
Pennsylvania. Senator Leahy is also known, among other things, for his 
fierce commitment to human rights around the world, his long-time work 
advancing the cause of justice on the Judiciary Committee, his 
outstanding work on the Appropriations Committee, his fierce defense of 
the Senate as an institution, and, most of all, as the greatest 
advocate for the people of Vermont that the State has ever known. He 
has also found time for his personal passion of photography and to 
appear in five Batman movies. The Senate as an institution and I 
personally will miss serving with Pat. My

[[Page S9624]]

wife Terese and I have been blessed by our friendship with Pat and his 
wife Marcelle.
  The end of this Congress also marks the end of Senator Richard Burr's 
time in the Senate. I have worked with Senator Burr on the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, on which we both sit. We have 
found common ground on a number of issues, most notably our shared 
interest in bio-defense and pandemic preparedness, upon which we have 
worked jointly for years. We led the effort in the Senate to pass the 
ABLE bill in 2014, which allows people with disabilities and their 
families to save for care and accommodations related to their 
disabilities. We also worked to advance out of committee a bipartisan 
pregnancy discrimination bill, which I still hope to get over the 
finish line this week. We have also disagreed at times, for example, 
when we both advocated for our respective States to receive critical 
title I education funding. I also served with Senator Burr on the 
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence where, as the senior Republican 
on the committee, he helped to steer the committee through the 
treacherous waters of the Russia report detailing Russia's efforts to 
interfere in the 2016 election and to aid Donald Trump's candidacy. 
Even when the elements of his own party pressured him to do otherwise, 
Senator Burr stood up for American democracy and put country before 
party.
  Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri is also retiring. In agreement or 
disagreement, Senator Blunt has been an honest broker, one who worked 
to try and find common ground and who was honest when he could not. In 
the past year, he and I have worked successfully to sort through some 
challenging issues related to pregnancy discrimination and the 
Congressional Accountability Act. The details of the legislation here 
are not as pertinent here as the manner in which he engaged in the 
issue--respectfully, substantively, and productively. He and I have 
also worked together on adoption issues for many years and together 
lead a bill to make the Adoption Tax Credit refundable, which allows 
many more low-income families to benefit. He has been an excellent 
partner in that effort. I regret that we have not been able to enact 
that bill into law prior to his retirement, but I will continue to seek 
its passage in the coming Congress. Finally, Roy and I have worked for 
years to build and repair bridges in smaller, rural areas of our 
respective States by allocating additional funds to so-called off-
system bridges.
  I did not have the privilege of working with Senator Richard Shelby 
of Alabama when he was a member of the Democratic Caucus in the 1980s, 
before my time in the Senate. Regardless, Senator Shelby and I have 
been neighbors on the third floor of the Russell Senate Office 
Building, which means that we often find ourselves walking to vote on 
the Senate floor at around the same time. Early in my career, I found 
myself delivering to Senator Shelby's office a box of ice cream from 
the legendary Creamery at Penn State, the result of lost bet between 
Penn State and the top-ranked Alabama football team in 2010. Most 
recently, Senator Shelby was critical to bringing back the ability of 
Senators to advocate for community projects in their home State through 
the appropriations process. As the senior Republican on the 
Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby has been unwavering in his 
belief that Senators understand the critical needs of their communities 
and should have the opportunity to advocate for them. Due to Senator 
Shelby's efforts to bring back congressionally directed spending and my 
advocacy for worthy projects throughout Pennsylvania, communities large 
and small are addressing critical local needs, from early childhood to 
infrastructure to healthcare, among others.
  Senator Rob Portman of Ohio is also retiring from the Senate this 
year. Ohio shares a border with Pennsylvania, and, not surprisingly, we 
share many of the same concerns. For example, we both believe in the 
critical importance of our manufacturing base to the American economy 
and the need to support the workers upon whom our manufacturing might 
is built. We have both been critical of China and its efforts to 
undermine the American manufacturers and workers, especially in the 
case of steel production. Senator Portman and I have partnered to 
protect some of the last American manufacturers of electrical steel 
from deliberate Chinese market distortion. I have also worked with 
Senator Portman and his fellow Ohioan Senator Sherrod Brown on several 
iterations of legislation called Leveling the Playing Field to help 
manufacturers respond to unfair market competition from China and 
Chinese enterprises operating under the protection of the Chinese 
Government. I also want to note that Senator Portman and I have a 
shared interest in children's mental health and teamed up recently on 
S. 4757, the Investing in Kids' Mental Health Now Act, a bill to 
increase the availability of mental health resources for children.
  Finally, I wish to note the departure of Senator Jim Inhofe of 
Oklahoma from the Senate. A member of the Senate since 1994, Senator 
Inhofe is known first and foremost as a champion of our military and 
the men and women who serve our nation. He has served on the Senate 
Armed Services Committee capably for decades, most recently as the 
senior Republican on the panel. This year, we honored Senator Inhofe by 
naming the annual defense authorization bill after him. I am especially 
grateful to Senator Inhofe and the Armed Services Committee for 
including the Global Food Security Act in the FY23 Defense 
authorization bill, which will strengthen our country's effort to 
promote food security around the world and also fight extremism and 
political unrest around the world. This good national security bill is 
one of many ways in which Senator Inhofe's leadership on issues related 
to the continent of Africa will continue far after his retirement, as 
16 of the 20 countries targeted by the Global Food Security Act's 
development program are in Africa. Senator Inhofe and I also share a 
deep concern for the brave Afghans seeking freedom from the Taliban and 
recently joined together to write to the Biden administration urging it 
to do all that it could to assist with the evacuation of the students 
and guardians of the Marefat School, the first coeducational school in 
Afghanistan and a leading beacon of efforts to promote the education 
and equity of girls in Afghanistan. Our efforts helped the successful 
evacuation of hundreds of children and their families who were at risk 
under the Taliban's brutal regime.
  As each of these retiring members leave the Senate for the last time 
and go home to their families for the holidays, I want to wish them my 
heartfelt thanks for their years of service to the Senate and to the 
country.

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