[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 200 (Thursday, December 22, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S10080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO NANCY PELOSI

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, before the conclusion of the 117th 
Congress, I want to add a few of my own congratulations to the outgoing 
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as she concludes her second 
history-making and history-changing tenure as Speaker.
  It is a cliche to begin these kinds of tributes with the obligatory 
observation that the person speaking and the subject of the reflections 
had their fair share of disagreements. In this particular case, that 
cliche certainly applies in full. Over the course of our careers, 
Speaker Pelosi and I have disagreed both frequently and forcefully on 
practically every kind of national issue that comes before Congress. We 
have led opposite parties. We have spent many years fighting hard on 
behalf of policies, ideas, and visions that usually sharply diverged.
  But all of the frequent interactions that have brought our 
differences into sharp relief have also given me a close-up view of the 
formidable qualities that fueled the Speaker's historic life journey to 
becoming the first woman ever to lead the House and made her such an 
effective advocate for her party's point of view.
  Throughout our Nation's history, rising to prominence in Congress has 
often seen leaders sorted into competing archetypes of either a 
pragmatist or an idealist. But Speaker Pelosi's leadership has 
resembled a combination of both. Even while working to synthesize the 
views of the entire Democratic Caucus, the Speaker never relinquished 
her own passionate, substantive set of convictions on policy matters.
  Speaker Pelosi's ability to marshal her side of the aisle to support 
specific tactics and outcomes has been formidable. It has made her a 
powerful partner to multiple Democratic Presidents. These abilities 
paved the way for the Speaker's instrumental role in helping to deliver 
a long list of consequential policy changes. I have no doubt that 
historians will reserve Speaker Pelosi a place on their lists of the 
most influential and consequential Speakers that our country has seen 
thus far.
  On the very rare occasions when the Speaker and I did find ourselves 
rowing in the same direction--such as our shared determination that the 
House and Senate reconvene as soon as humanly possible on the evening 
of January 6, 2021, and complete our constitutional duties 
straightaway--I was glad to have this formidable leader in my corner.
  I congratulate the Speaker on the conclusion of her time leading the 
House.

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