[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 182 (Monday, December 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6863-S6867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Tribute to Jon Tester
Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I appreciate being recognized right now.
But I would be remiss if I let Jon Tester leave the floor without
telling some of the truth about this guy.
All the niceties here are making me a little nauseous. I want to set
the record straight and say for the record, for the rest of the history
of this country going forward, that I want it to be known that I do not
like Jon Tester. So I want a rebuttal. I need to clear the record. He
has had his piece, and I want my piece.
I came to the Senate as this kind of naive guy. I did not think the
Senate would be like what I experienced. I got here in earnest. My idea
for who a Senator was, was very set in stone. I watched great movies
about the U.S. Senators. I saw ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.'' And
then I met Jon Tester, who is more like a combination of John Belushi
and John Wick go to Washington.
I didn't know Senators cursed until I got here and met Jon Tester. I
think, if I remember the exact first quote that Jon Tester said to me,
it was: Booker, I didn't think you were much. I thought you were a big
hole--and there was a word in between that--but now I realize you are
not a big hole; you are really not that big. This was the beginning of
a relationship.
(Laughter.)
I have to say, I was the guy who played college football. I have some
scars still from running into the likes of Junior Seau. But I literally
wear physical scars because of my hitting Jon Tester.
My mom said: I think you finally got an answer to the question of
what happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object.
Literally, he invited me to play basketball with him once. I have
played some rough-and-tumble hoops before. There is a court here on the
Senate grounds. What he did to me on that basketball court is illegal
in six States. I have video evidence that I was planning--you know, he
has cited the speech and debate clause protects what Senators do when
they are in their official capacity, but now that he is leaving the
U.S. Senate, I will be filing charges against this man.
(Laughter.)
Jon Tester is mean. He is cantankerous. He is ornery. He is rough. He
is truly a son of a gun.
Now, despite the fact that, again, I do not like Jon Tester, I have
learned a heck of a lot from him. I was the mayor of a city, an urban
place, and I hadn't gotten to know farmers in my State yet, but I came
here and I met a farmer. And despite our issues and the tension between
the two of us, he was willing to sit down with me and--perhaps more
than any other Senator in my experience here--take the time to help me
learn the urgencies about America's farm system.
You see, what I learned about Jon Tester is he doesn't give a damn
who you are. Will you work with him to advance the causes of his State?
I realized that, despite the fact that I do not like Jon Tester, he
loves the people of Montana. Look, I hear him complain about this
place, complain about how it works. But I watched him and learned from
him about how you fight here to get things done; that it is not about
people or personalities; it is about fighting for causes and the
communities that you care about.
So Jon Tester taught me a heck of a lot. In fact, some of the things
I feel most passionate about about the American food system were things
that he taught me. And what he showed me was that, in this Nation,
whether you live in rural Montana or urban New Jersey, we share common
cause. Jon Tester showed me that we still have a common American fight
and that this place still needs people who don't care about
partisanship, who don't care about camaraderie, who don't care about
the formalities, but just care about fighting for people.
And so I am grateful for that, but I still don't like Jon Tester.
(Laughter.)
I used to come by his office. And I just want to look at his staff
right now and tell them: God bless you. I mean, the HR claims you could
have probably filed against this guy are extraordinary, and it shows me
your loyalty to him because sometimes I would walk in there, and there
was, like, full combat staff games being played. I mean, I couldn't
believe it. I mean, what was being tossed around that office sometimes
was extraordinary.
But the fact that somehow he bred extraordinary loyalty from his
staff members, dedication, work ethic, and people that delivered real
results, in this place that is often hard to get things done, is a
testimony to you and how much, in his office, he bred a sense of
commitment to country. And so I thank you all for that.
And being now that there is no limit on what I can say and get off my
chest, I want to thank his chief of staff Dylan
[[Page S6864]]
because, unbeknownst to you, we would break into your house often, sir.
When you were back in Montana, yes, I have been in your home and done
things in that home that will be in my next book.
(Laughter.)
Dylan, I can't get you fired because you are leaving anyway now at
this point.
I want to end by saying this: I have stories to tell about Jon
Tester. I have charges to file about Jon Tester. I have a lot of
language that has been expanded in my vocabulary because of Jon Tester.
And I thought that I would come down tonight and write an original
poem. I was very excited about the chance to rhyme ``Jon Tester'' with
``Uncle Fester.'' I thought it would be great. I had this incredible
poem that I wanted to read. But I, instead, want to end with this poem.
I watched Jon Tester do something that was extraordinary. He chose to
run again--a guy that I knew how he felt about Washington but decided
to do something recklessly audacious. Most Senators, when they see the
odds are against them and their chances of winning are slim, they
decide to retire. Jon didn't go quietly into the night. He ran an
election.
And so many people on both sides of the aisle actually believed that
if anybody can win in a State that Donald Trump won by 20 points, where
there are probably as many vegans in Montana as there are Democrats, he
chose, because of the love of his State, to run again, run an election.
And by golly, the people I saw pouring their heart into this fight--it
was extraordinary.
It was an election to me--and in talking to Dylan on so many days--
that was one of the more exciting ones because I really felt like he
was from a movie like ``Braveheart'' or the men in ``300'' in
Thermopolis. He was running one of the most extraordinary fights in
this place. And because the world believed that--oh, my God--Jon Tester
could pull off the greatest upset in American politics, he drew fire
into that State. You talk about campaign finance reform. Literally,
tens if not well over $100 million that would have probably gone to
Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, everybody was pouring into this fight. He
drew so much fire and went down in an election, to me, that was a
testimony to his character.
So instead of reading an original poem, I just thought I would read a
poem by a man that I have known all my life. And now I have to say this
poem most describes the man I don't like, Jon Tester. It is by a guy
named Rudyard Kipling. It is entitled ``If.''
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing
theirs and blaming it on you; if you can trust yourself when
all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;
if you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied
about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to
hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; if
you can dream--and not make dreams your master; if you can
think--and not make thoughts your aim; if you can meet with
Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the
same; if you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted
by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you
gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build `em up with
worn-out tools; if you can make one heap of all your winnings
and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and
start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about
your loss; if you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to
serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when
there is nothing in you except the Will which says to them:
`Hold on!'; if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
or walk with Kings--nor lose the common touch; if neither
foes nor loving friends can hurt you; if all men count with
you, but none too much; if you can fill the unforgiving
minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, yours--
Jon Tester, yours--
is the Earth and everything that's in it, and--which is
more--you'll be a Man, my son!
Mr. President, I have served with a lot of people in a lot of levels
of government. Jon Tester is a man and one of the greatest ones I have
known.
I do not like Jon Tester, but, God, I love the man. Thank you.
(Applause.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, no one wants to follow that, but I just
thought that I should say a few words, as a classmate coming in
together--many of us sitting in this back row for so long--back, the
class of 2006, 17 years.
And I am going to miss Jon Tester. I am going to miss the bubble gum
in his desk that I always steal. I am going to miss when his name shows
up when he is calling, how it makes me smile because I know he is going
to say something funny, no matter what is going on. And we are all
going to miss him.
So I remember Jon and I sitting kind of here--but I think we were
over there--in one of our first speeches in the U.S. Senate, and Trent
Lott--remember this?--was talking about ethics reform. Jon and I had
run on ethics reform. And Trent Lott was saying: If this stuff passes,
we are going to be left with nothing but our bathrobes in the Russell
courtyard. That was exactly what he said. And Jon and I were sitting in
the back. And at the time, they had us in trailers in the Russell
courtyard. And I remember we looked at each other and said: Well, so
what. It couldn't get any worse than where we are now. Like, that is
what we are doing now.
And that was the old days when to even get any of these ethics rules
passed, it was really hard.
And what Senator Booker was saying about you being brave and ahead of
your time--from the moment you got here, you were ahead of your time
about what this job meant.
Then I remember Sharla. I am looking for her up there. Right up
there; there she is. The very first official, big event I ever did with
Jon, I was following him up on the podium. And I remember he got up
there, and he said: You know what, I have been traveling all over the
country, and I am going to win this race.
This was 2006.
I am going to win this race, I know I am; but right now, I haven't
seen my wife Sharla for 3 weeks, and I have a beer sitting at the
table, and I am going to just go back and sit with my wife and have
that beer. Thank you.
And he got a standing ovation for that speech. And it was just an
example of Jon: to the point, all the time.
My favorite note that I am going to save forever in my desk, it was
during the impeachment hearing. Many of you remember Sherrod would
always be kind of talking out of turn. But we would have a lot of
mentions--I see our friends down there remembering this--of the
Founding Fathers at the time. So I have a note that I wrote to Bob
Casey that said: As it approaches midnight and we keep hearing about
the Founding Fathers, I start to think that you look like a Founding
Father, Bob. Your hair looks like a Founding Father. But Tester, not so
much.
We are going to miss your barber, wherever he is. And he is back in
Montana, I am sure.
But I remember some of Jon's first ads where he had his barber in
those ads. And it just was him, and it is him now. And he looks exactly
the same with his haircut as he did when he first started running.
There has been a lot of talk about his incredible leadership, many
things he has done, worked with us on competition issues, trying to
make sure that we still have small farms in this country. And it means
something. But for me, the most meaningful thing, Jon, was that PACT
Act and how, when our veterans signed up to serve, there shouldn't be a
waiting line, and when they come home to this country and they have a
healthcare problem and they want to get in to get healthcare at the VA
or they want to get coverage, there should never be a waiting line in
the United States of America.
Jon did that--Jon's leadership--working across the aisle, like he has
done on so many other things.
We are going to miss his Montana rural work ethic, his sense of
humor, his 40-pound suitcases of meat that he butchered himself, and,
yes, even his musical talents. Because in addition to us losing a
tireless champion for Montana, we are also going to lose the Senate's
only trumpet player and, certainly, the Senate's only seven-fingered
trumpet player.
So, Mr. President, I join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle
to celebrate Jon Tester and to know he is not going to be far away--the
flattop dirt farmer who went from Havre, MT, to the U.S. Senate and
never forgot where he came from.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
(Applause.)
[[Page S6865]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I will be brief, but I just want to add a
word.
A lot of us in this body sometimes complain about this job, whether
it is the schedule or whether it is the lack of resources, the amount
of time. And what has always struck me about Jon Tester--I mean, a lot
of us in this business, we wonder about authenticity. So there isn't
any Senator, either side of the aisle, who is more authentic and more
true to who he has been and will be and will always be than Jon Tester.
The fact that we have also--to echo what Cory said, I have not
invaded Dylan's house, but I have invaded Jon and Sharla's house a
number of times. And whenever I would think about the challenges of
this job, bitch and moan, I always came back--and I talked to other
Senators on this; I have talked to many folks around the country. When
I think about somebody who defines public service in the 21st century,
there is one person that comes to mind--somebody who was a teacher, a
musician, a farmer; somebody who had to get up at 3 o'clock in the
morning to drive a couple hours to get on not one plane but two, to
shlep back here for sometimes a week of nothing votes and then climb
back on that flight to go back and still maintain that farm--I can't
say that, as a guy who lives 20 minutes away. I can't say that in terms
of somebody who doesn't have the kind of personal financial resources
but never raised a word of complaint through his years of service.
So echoing what others said and will continue to say, any time I
doubt my commitment or any of our commitments, I ask you all: Think who
defines public service. I think that person is Jon Tester.
I yield the floor.
(Applause.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. ROMNEY. Mr. President, I know something about failed Presidential
campaigns. I made an assessment that President Biden was not going to
go the distance. So I approached three Democrats and suggested they
ought to run for President. I just heard from them. One was Cory
Booker. One was Mark Warner. One was Jon Tester.
Now, why did I approach those three men--not just once, but multiple
times--and say, ``You ought to run for President''? Not because I agree
with them. I disagree with them on almost every issue. It is because I
happen to find these three men--and Jon Tester is the one I am looking
at right now--to be men of character, integrity, of honesty, of
purpose, who hold fast to the values that made America the hope of the
Earth.
I know that, over the years, policy comes and goes, and, sometimes, I
have read history and I find my party is on one side of a policy
position and changes, and now we are on the other side. I recognize the
country can handle bad policy. We have. Heaven knows there have been
times when your party has been in charge, and we suffered through it.
You would say the same is true of mine, and that is probably the case.
But what we have not suffered is a lack of character. Going from the
very beginning of our country until now, we have had men of great
character. And, someday, we will have women of character, as well, in
that great Office.
I wanted Jon Tester to be the next President of the United States
because he is a man of extraordinary character. He is as honest as his
hair is short and as strong as his physique is imposing.
I learned something about that character when we worked together. He
mentioned the infrastructure bill that I had the privilege of joining
him on to help negotiate. There was a time, toward the very, very end,
when I made a beginner's mistake. I am just a freshman Senator, after
all. I was about to do something which would be as harmful for my
political career and my welcome back home and might even be helpful to
the opposition forces. And everybody was telling me: Don't worry about
this. We can paper it over later. Don't worry. Don't worry.
Jon Tester stood up and said: No, this is going to hurt Mitt. It is
not fair. We have to fix this.
I didn't know that. But he stood up for me and convinced the other
Members of our group to do something that was not in their interest,
not in his interest, but in my interest, because he is a man of
character and a friend.
I am not going to be here. Jon is not going to be here. We may see
each other sometime in the hills of Montana. He is a man who--one
couldn't have a better friend than Jon Tester. The people of Montana
could not have had a better friend--a man who loves the land, who loves
the people, who loves the values of the people of Montana.
I am proud to have been able to serve with Jon Tester and wish him
godspeed. God bless America and God bless Jon Tester and his dear
family.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I am trying to decide whether I am
heartbroken because Senator Romney didn't approach me and ask me to run
for President or I am heartbroken because I know almost as much about
failed Presidential campaigns as Senator Romney does, or something of
that nature.
I appreciate so much the sentiments today that I wanted to get up. I
have heard the word ``virtue'' used twice in the last week on this
floor, once in the Rudyard Kipling poem that Senator Booker read and
once in Senator Romney's incredible farewell speech. Coming out of both
places, it made me feel like, on some level, how foreign that sort of
trait is in our politics these days, but how well it fits the people
that we are talking about, whether it is Senator Romney or Senator
Tester.
I want to say a couple of words about Senator Tester before he kicks
us out of here, which I know he will.
First of all, I came here a little bit to demand an apology. Jon
knows about this but not everybody does. When I first came back here
and I had been appointed to the job, I was coming over from the Hart
Building to the Senate to get sworn in. My daughters were 9, 7, and 4.
Susan was with us, and the three girls were with us.
Anne was the youngest, who was 4. She was sucking her thumb all the
way from the Hart Office Building to the Capitol, and I was panicked
because she was about to meet the Vice President. I was about to get
sworn in. In fairness, I was probably more worried about my getting
sworn in than her meeting the Vice President, but she was sucking her
thumb. I said: Anne, stop sucking your thumb. You are in this beautiful
dress. Anne, stop sucking your thumb. You are driving me crazy. Anne,
please stop sucking your thumb. I will do anything.
I didn't know that Jon Tester was on the car--on the subway car with
us--but we were. He watched all of this happen. But we really had not
met before.
We got off the subway car, and Jon Tester, who is the size that he
is, and Anne Bennet, who is this size at the time and who was looking
up at Jon Tester--Jon Tester said: You know what happens if you keep
sucking your thumb?
She said: No.
He whipped out his hand, and he showed it to her.
She is 20 years old, and she has not recovered from that moment ever.
She cries herself to sleep every night because of what Jon Tester did
on that very first day that we were together.
I will never forget it because it made me realize what an
extraordinarily genuine person he is. Who else would take the risk, not
ever having met somebody around this place, and do that to their 4-
year-old daughter? Jon Tester would, and that is why he is a legend in
our house--one of the many reasons.
One of the things I am going to miss most about Jon is, for years and
years and years, we traveled back and forth from the West to be on this
floor, to get together with a number of Senators from the Western
United States who have had to stop in Denver on their way to wherever
they go. I have been very fortunate because I get to Denver, and I am a
half hour from my home. Jon, if he makes his flight--if he makes his
connection--is hours away from landing in Montana, and then he is
another hour and a half away from home, at least, depending on where he
is going.
And then, as he said today, as all of us know, there are many nights
when he has been working on the combine
[[Page S6866]]
and doing other things around his shop that have kept him up to 3 in
the morning with Sharla, working on things, as he does his real job on
the farm.
When the people in this Chamber barely can hold onto the one job they
have here, Jon and Sharla would be working two jobs, maybe three jobs,
in the time he has been in the U.S. Senate--and, more important, never
a word of complaint.
Jon doesn't fit all that well into the plane seats going back and
forth to Montana, and I never heard him complain about being on that
flight ever. I never heard him complain about being on a second flight
ever or the fact that he worked until 3 in the morning.
In fact, he knew it was a privilege that he had the chance to be able
to do both. He had the chance to be able to serve here and the chance
to be able to contribute to his community and to his family by working
on his farm.
All of us should have that level of connection to the people that we
represent, to the place that we represent. That is why, in my view,
Jon's loss is not just a loss for Democrats. It is not a loss,
particularly, for Democrats, and it is not his loss. In many ways, it
is a loss for the U.S. Senate because we are the ones that are poorer
for Jon not being here.
Jon's life, I think, will be enriched by not being here. Our lives
will be poorer because he is not here.
And that is because I think, when you think about what the Founders
had in mind when they set up this form of representative government,
they knew a lot about the worst parts of human nature. They did. They
worried about it. They wrote about it. They talked about what humans
could do to one another, and they worried about what despots could do
in a republican form of government. They worried about what self-
interested legislators could do. They worried about what parties could
do.
But one of the things they counted on--what they said we would be
sunk if we didn't have--was public virtue. It was virtue that elected
leaders would have and that the American people would have to be the
glue that held together this set of rules that they were writing; that
held together the aspirations they were making; that held together the
assumptions they had about what it might be like to live in a place
where there was no King or tyrant to tell you what to think, where you
lived in a place where you actually had the freedom to think for
yourself and the freedom to disagree with other people. And out of
those disagreements, we wouldn't create shabby compromises, but we
would create more imaginative solutions than any King or tyrant could
come up with on their own. That was the whole idea.
But the whole thing relied on something you couldn't legislate across
the ages, which was public virtue--the virtue of somebody who could
bring his life experience to this place and inform his colleagues about
that; the perspectives of his State, the perspectives of rural Montana,
the perspectives of the West.
And he never proceeded on an idea that he had a monopoly on wisdom or
that he couldn't learn something from somebody else. And that is what
we are going to miss, because, I think, he has set the standard--a
standard that the Founders of this country imagined we would be at our
very best, not just as Senators but, much more important than that, as
citizens of this country.
So I am going to miss him terribly for all of that because, I think,
underneath his tough exterior, there was somebody who had a huge heart
for the people of Montana; for the people of his hometown, Big Sandy;
for the American West; but also for what this democracy can actually
be. And that is an example we can never let go of.
Thank you, Jon, for setting that example while you have been here.
I yield the floor.
(Applause.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. BROWN. I just arrived from the airport, and I hurried because I
wanted to be here for my friend Jon Tester. I love this guy. I love how
he does his job. No one takes his job more seriously and has more fun
doing this job than Jon Tester. That laughter, that commitment, that
idealism was infectious.
We worked on two committees together--one I chaired; one he chaired.
He still chairs the Veterans Committee, and look what we did for this
Nation's veterans. I got the honor of being Jon Tester's wingman on
that. I chair the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, with
people like Tina Smith. Doug Jones was once on that committee, and Jeff
Merkley was once on that committee.
When I say how seriously Jon took this job, I think just how hard it
was for him to get here every week. Two years ago, he decided to run
for reelection. He knew the pressure, and he knew the challenge. It
takes me an hour to get to Washington. It takes Jon 7 or 8 or 9 hours
to get to Washington. Every week he goes home; he farms. He goes home
every weekend to look out for his constituents and to represent them.
As I said, no one takes this job more seriously and has more fun
doing it. He will be missed by everybody. This body will miss him for
that infectious spirit that really is what this country is all about.
And it was just such an honor for 18 years--we were sworn in the same
day. It was such an honor to serve with Jon Tester of Montana.
(Applause.)
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, Jon Tester once said he didn't know how
his Senate colleagues saw him, but he hoped it was, first and foremost,
as a farmer. Beyond his ability to drive a tractor or lug a container
of beef raised on his Montana ranch to Washington, we have seen in Jon
the best qualities of that noble occupation: hard work, resilience, and
common sense.
With his wife Sharla, Jon still farms the land near Big Sandy, MT,
that has been in his family for more than a century. He was brought up
to believe that public education, strong families, and civic engagement
form the foundation of our democracy, and he has demonstrated that
conviction as a teacher, school board member, and leader of the Montana
State Senate.
In the U.S. Senate, Jon has been an advocate of rural America and its
farmers and ranchers, small business owners, sportsmen and women, and
Tribal Nations. He has championed responsible energy development,
improving schools, and expanding high-quality healthcare to underserved
communities.
It has been a pleasure to work with Jon on many issues. Maine and
Montana share the distinction of having two of the highest percentages
of veterans in the Nation, and we have joined together to honor
America's patriots by both strengthening the benefits veterans have
earned through their service and ensuring that our Armed Forces today
have the resources they need to defend our Nation.
As cochairs of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in this
Congress, Jon and I crafted two bipartisan bills to fund our national
defense priorities. In addition to countless engagements with senior
military officials, Chairman Tester held more than 20 hearings and
classified briefings--more than any other Subcommittee--performing
oversight of the Department of Defense. Many of our meetings were
classified, held without cameras or the press. Jon's focus was always
on what our troops needed to keep our country safe. From investments to
modernize our Nation's nuclear triad to accelerating space-based
capabilities, I can attest that our work together has made our Nation's
military stronger in the face of increasing threats from China and
Russia.
We also served as cochairs of the Congressional TRIO Caucus and
introduced the Educational Opportunity and Success Act to reauthorize
and strengthen Federal programs to support underserved students. Every
spring, we lead the Public Schools Week resolution to recognize the
importance of education and the contributions of our teachers.
Jon was among the group of 10 Senators who negotiated the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. From transportation to
broadband, the most significant investment in infrastructure since the
interstate highway system in the 1950s is bringing lasting benefits to
our Nation.
Jon has contributed to our country and served his state. I commend my
colleague Senator Jon Tester for his outstanding service and wish him
bountiful crops for many years to come.
[[Page S6867]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Mr. KING. Mr. President, I will be brief because I am set to relieve
you in the chair, so my time is very limited.
There are two aspects to Jon's life that I would like to comment on.
I experienced both. One was as a legislator and a Senator, and the
other was as a friend.
And he was a master legislator. The PACT Act would not have happened
without Jon Tester. That is just a fact. And there are thousands,
millions of veterans across the country here who are going to benefit
from that act of legislative work that it took to get that across the
finish line.
I remember being here, and there were some procedural votes. We fell
back; Jon stayed at it; we got it done. Many of the comments today have
been about Jon as a legislator, as a Senator, as a model Senator, but I
also want to comment on Jon as a friend.
Jon is one of the best human beings I have ever met. Not necessarily
one of the best--I am not saying legislator, public servant, school
teacher. I am talking human being. I am talking about a person who is
real. My wife is Jewish. She would call him a mensch; that is somebody
who steps up. He has been a friend to me throughout.
We have had innumerable dinners together. I don't think he has ever
paid for one, but we have spent so much time together. And I have
learned so much from Jon about commitment, about honesty, about
integrity, about serving the public; and I just want to say we are
losing a great human being here as well as a great legislator.
And I want to echo Cory Booker: I love you, man. We are going to miss
you.
(Applause.)
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). The Senator from Montana.
Mr. TESTER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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