[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 187 (Tuesday, December 17, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7070-S7078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WILDLIFE INNOVATION AND LONGEVITY DRIVER REAUTHORIZATION ACT--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 399
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Senator Kaine's
request for unanimous consent for the Senate to pass the Saving the
Civil Service Act. It is a critical bill that I hope all my colleagues
would agree needs to be enshrined into law.
One of the great strengths of our democracy is that we have an
independent, merit-based civil service. Back in the 19th century, we
saw what happens when you had a Federal workforce that was made up of a
system of spoils and political patronage. So the Congress, back in
1883, said: We ought to put in place an independent civil service.
That has been the law of the land for the last 150 years. Virtually
every other industrial nation in the world has modeled their
independent workforce after the American model.
We have 2 million Federal employees across the country. Virginia has
147,000. There are close to that many in Maryland and in the District,
but they are all over. Senator Hirono mentioned earlier Hawaii has some
of the highest concentration.
Senator Kaine's bill, which we are all proud to be cosponsoring,
would simply say: Let's not break that system.
The idea--and the incoming President has said he wants this--to make
and get rid of a merit-based civil service is, in my mind, beyond
comprehension. Do you really want that nurse at the VA hospital, that
the first criteria we are looking for is who did she vote for as
opposed to whether she knows nursing; or that air traffic controller
that says: Well, I may have been politically active for an unpopular
candidate, so I am going to get fired? Or, more likely, one of the
things that we have seen that has been a strength of our system: The
independent economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Presidents of
each party get mad when their numbers come out each month because those
numbers are independently verified. Do you want to fire all those folks
and put in political loyalists?
The rest of the world would run from that, and it would, frankly,
undermine the reserved nature of the U.S. dollar as the currency of the
backbone of the world, if we are cooking the books on our economic
numbers.
There are a host of other examples that we could go almost category
by category. I can tell you, the vast majority of Federal workers whom
I interact with, most of them could actually have done better in the
private sector. They do this work because of that sense of public
service.
And if you get rid of a merit-based system and do it all for
political patronage, who is going to actually join that kind of
government on a going-forward basis?
This would undermine our economy, undermine our security, and
obviously undermine the ability of the American people to get a fair
administration of government services.
With that, I am going to yield to my good friend, the Senator from
Maryland Senator Van Hollen.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from
Virginia Senator Warner, who just addressed this very important issue,
and my friend and colleague, the other Virginia Senator, Senator Kaine,
who is making the motion today that we pass his Saving the Civil
Service Act.
This is a critical piece of legislation to protect one of America's
best innovations, which is the idea of a nonpartisan, merit-based
Federal workforce--one that serves all Americans, regardless of
political affiliation; one where you don't take a political test to
decide whether you have the credentials for the job; you take a skills-
based, knowledge-based test to decide if you are best for the job.
Our Federal workers are the air traffic controllers who ensure safe
passage when Americans fly; they are the inspectors who protect our
food supply; they are the folks who determine whether or not medicines
put on the market are going to be both safe and do what they say they
are going to do; they are the folks at the Social Security
Administration in Baltimore City who make sure that people get their
Social Security checks on time; they are the nurses and doctors at
veterans hospitals who help our veterans; and many, many other
essential functions.
Today, the only criteria for their employment is performance. It is
what they know, not who they know. They are qualified to serve based on
those credentials, and they do a good job protecting the American
public. And they serve in those jobs regardless of what President is in
the White House and what party that President may belong to. Their duty
is to serve the American people.
So why are we here on the floor? Because the incoming administration
has threatened to change the longtime practice of making sure we have a
merit-based civil service.
At the very end of the last Trump administration, they proposed
something called schedule F, which would allow them to convert merit-
based positions into politically based positions--in other words,
substituting political cronies for qualified merit-based Federal
employees. That is a recipe for corruption.
Our predecessors, a long time ago, recognized that. That is why, back
in 1883, the Congress passed the Pendleton Act to create the merit-
based civil service. Prior to that, we had a spoils system, where
people who worked on campaigns thought that they could get any job they
wanted, regardless of their qualifications, because of their political
party label.
In fact, the reason we ended up getting the Pendleton Act--one of
them--was that, in 1881, one of those people, who had worked on a
political campaign and thought they should have gotten a job and
didn't, assassinated President Garfield. So at that time, the country
was shaken, and they said: We have to get rid of the spoils system and
replace it with a merit-based system.
I want to just make two other points because the incoming
administration, as I said, tried this schedule F idea at the end of the
last administration. This time, they are talking about doing it near
the beginning of this incoming administration, which is why we are here
on the floor today trying to take this action to prevent that from
happening.
I want to point out that Presidents have about 4,000 political
positions to fill. We are talking about the Secretary of Defense, the
Secretary of State. Presidents have the discretion already--the power
today--to nominate people for those 4,000 positions. So we are not
talking about taking that away. We are saying: You can't convert
thousands of other positions that today are based on merit into those
political type of jobs.
Finally, we have heard a lot about the need for more government
efficiency, and count me in. Count all of our colleagues from Virginia
and Maryland and I think probably both sides of the aisle in on the
idea of trying to make sure that we achieve greater efficiencies in
government. But I will not support and we will not support something
that, under the cover of the claim of government efficiency, is simply
a Trojan horse to undo our merit-based system and turn it into one
based on political cronyism because that leads to corruption, which
will erode the public's confidence and erode the quality of service
that our Federal civil servants provide.
So I want to again thank my colleague from Virginia Senator Kaine for
all he has done. I want to thank my colleague from Maryland Senator
Cardin, who has also been a great partner in this.
I yield to the Senator from Virginia Senator Kaine.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I appreciate my colleagues Senator Warner
and Senator Van Hollen. We just had a press conference where Senator
Cardin and Senator Hirono also came to speak about the importance of
this issue.
As everybody knows--you learned this in civics in grade school--
officials in the United States swear loyalty not to the President but
to the Constitution of the United States. Under the Constitution,
Congress passes laws, and the President enforces them.
But from the beginning days of our country, the President can't do
all the
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enforcement and implementation on his or her own; it is too big a job
for an individual. In a big and complex country, you need people whose
whole job might be enforcing a particular law--say inspecting a meat-
processing plant. You need people to make sure planes don't crash into
each other at airports, people to prosecute anybody running a scam to
cheat the elderly out of their life savings, people to bust tax cheats
or catch somebody dumping toxic chemicals into a stream, in violation
of the Clean Water Act.
Federal employees do all these things. They work to ensure that
critical resources and services are provided in countless communities
across America. They work to keep Social Security up and running,
manage veterans' benefits, research medical diseases, and develop cures
and vaccines.
Enforcing the law and running government requires people who are
duty-bound to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and to obey the
lawful orders of the President, all subject to the overriding duty to
support and defend the Constitution of the United States. But we swear
fealty to that Constitution, not to a person.
Early in the Republic, as my colleague indicated--Senator Van
Hollen--the executive branch operated under what is known as the spoil
system, as in the expression ``to the victor go the spoils.'' But there
quickly arose an obvious problem: If the people who enforce American
laws answer only to the President, then if you are on the President's
team, they go easy on you, and if you are against the President, they
bring Federal law down on you like a hammer. That is not the rule of
law.
It took a century, from the founding of America until enactment of
the Pendleton Act--and Senator Van Hollen talked about a tragedy that
occurred at the foot of Capitol Hill, which was once a train station
where President Garfield was assassinated in 1881. It took that tragedy
to basically galvanize this growing awareness that our Federal
employees should be hired based on merit, not political loyalty.
Since then--nearly 150 years--our Nation has recognized the value of
a nonpartisan and merit-based system to carry out Federal Government
functions. Having a dedicated civil service based on merit rather than
political loyalties is in the best interest of everyone. It not only
promotes professionalism and reduces cronyism, it also promotes
stability.
We saw in the last Trump administration the track record of the
political appointees. There was a revolving door in many of these
positions. How many Secretaries of State? How many Secretaries of
Defense? How many Secretaries of the Navy? When you are switching
positions out, you get worse and worse quality of service. The
professional civil service is not just about merit, it is also about
stability.
Our civil service is tasked with protecting so many important values:
national security, economic productivity, guiding public health, and so
much more. There have been attempts in recent years to erode the
independence of the Federal civil service, and that is why I am here on
the floor, where I will in a minute request Senate passage of the
Saving the Civil Service Act.
The bill upholds the merit system principles to ensure that the
Federal Government is equipped with the most qualified and experienced
individuals. Specifically, the Saving the Civil Service Act will
prohibit the reclassification of Federal employees to schedules outside
of the competitive civil service without congressional consent. If
Congress agrees to this, that is one thing, but to do the
reclassification over the objection of or without even consulting with
Congress would be barred by this bill.
Over 2 million Federal employees work in all 50 States and U.S.
territories.
There are 147,000 in Virginia.
In New Mexico, there are more than 22,000 Federal employees who work
in critical areas such as nuclear research. Some of the most important
research that has been done in the history of the United States was
done in New Mexico by highly trained scientists, and that continues
today.
In Missouri, which my colleague Senator Schmitt represents, Federal
employment is more than 37,000, and many work for the VA, for the
Treasury, for the Army, for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and for
the Department of Homeland Security.
This shouldn't be a partisan bill. We don't have any need and never
have had a need for Democratic meat inspectors or Republican air
traffic controllers, Democratic VA nurses and Republican cancer
researchers; we just want people who have expertise. These experts may
have their personal political opinions, but as long as they are doing
their jobs, they deserve protection from political retaliation.
To be clear, the President can govern as he or she sees fit within
the bounds of statute. Many Federal laws have ambiguity. If there is
too much ambiguity, we in Congress need to fix it. The President is
empowered to use flexibility within the law as he sees fit, and career
Federal employees have to follow those directives and implement the
President's interpretation of the law falling within legal bounds. The
President, additionally, has the ability to appoint 4,000 political
appointees, some of whom must be confirmed by the Senate but many of
whom don't even require Senate confirmation.
If a President tries to go outside the law, someone should be able to
stand up and say, ``Mr. President, that is illegal, and you can't do
it. Telling your boss ``That is illegal, and you can't do it'' is not
disloyalty. That is patriotism. That is loyalty to the Constitution and
to the law. Again, we all take the same oath. The oath is to the
document, not the President.
Third and finally, my bill does not mean that we don't expect
accountability from Federal workers. In any large organization,
government agency, or large company, there is a potential for
unnecessary bureaucracy to develop. In a large pool of people, there
may be some bad apples not doing their job. Nothing in this bill
protects Federal employees from accountability for their performance.
In fact, the National Federation for Federal Employees has testified
before Congress on more than one occasion about the circumstances in
which Federal employees have been terminated for cause. That
demonstrates that while they exist to defend the rights of their
members, they are not going to apologize for or shirk responsibility
for bad behavior of employees whose performance merits termination.
I am all for solutions that increase accountability and efficiency. I
am on the Foreign Relations Committee, and I followed with great
interest the efforts of President Trump's first Secretary of State, Rex
Tillerson, and his team in 2017 in that space.
The rights of civil servants and the goals of an efficient,
responsive Federal Government shouldn't be in competition, and I refuse
to dismiss as naive the idea that Federal workers can have a range of
personal political views but still serve faithfully and carry out the
law and the faithful orders of the Commander in Chief.
I know this is possible because it is exactly what we ask of the
American military--my oldest son is a marine--and the military delivers
that in a significant way. Every servicemember is allowed to vote, but
whoever is duly elected--that is whose lawful orders they follow.
The bill is about basic fairness. The American people should have
high expectations of Federal workers and should know that the people
enforcing American laws aren't going easy on someone just because they
happen to be a friend of the President, Democratic or Republican.
Some will argue that this is necessary because the Federal Government
is too big and inefficient. In fact, the Federal Government is smaller
today than it was during its peak in the post-World War II years, with
more than 3 million Federal employees at that time.
So I am looking forward to working on this and making sure that we
uphold this value that has stood the test of time since 1883--a
professional civil service, not one placed on political loyalty or
cronyism.
With that, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from further
consideration of S. 399 and the Senate proceed to its immediate
consideration, that the bill be considered read a third time and
passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid
upon the table.
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The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Missouri.
Mr. SCHMITT. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I am
heartened to hear the historical references from my friend from
Virginia and my friend from Maryland, but if we go back just a little
bit further, to our Nation's founding, the Founders were very concerned
about concentrations of power. That is why we have our system of
federalism, three branches of government, separation of powers. All was
meant to disperse government so that no one branch, no one person ever
got too powerful.
But the underlying belief that would save this system of self-
government was that people would be accountable to the people, that if
you sent somebody up here and you agreed with them, you would send them
back or you would send them home.
What we have seen, particularly in the last hundred years, is the
growth of an administrative state that isn't accountable to anybody.
That is the truth.
I was in Northwest Missouri a couple of years ago, and a farmer told
me: Eric, I just don't ever remember voting for the Deputy Under
Secretary of the EPA.
He had a point. A guidance letter--not even a rule and certainly not
even a law--can destroy a farmer's livelihood in a farm they have had
for generations. Or take for example the abuses we saw during COVID.
The Supreme Court--I know something about this. I was the AG that
brought the case. The vaccine mandate. They didn't have any authority
to force a medical procedure on 100 million people, but they wanted to
do it anyway. Student loan debt forgiveness. There was no authority to
wipe away half a trillion dollars' worth of student loan debt with the
stroke of a pen, but they did it anyway.
These are big, broad discussions. The Supreme Court has weighed in.
The major questions doctrine. They have been reining in the abuses of
government now in unelected bureaucrats over the last decade.
Of course, with the overturning of the Chevron decision, the ball is
now in our court to sort of reassert the article I branch's role that
we are the ones--if you want to ban gas stoves, we should have to vote
on it.
So this bill, what it does--it blatantly infringes upon executive
prerogative to shape the executive workforce. So the courts have
weighed in, and dare I say the American people weighed in just about a
month ago. There is no secret that President Trump ran on greater
government efficiency and reducing the size of government.
This is another effort to Trump-proof before January 20. We are
seeing a wholesale auction of the border wall for less than 1 percent
of its value. It is happening right now to thwart what is coming. These
sort of efforts that are happening behind the scenes and now here on
the Senate floor are intended to do one thing, which is to prevent
President Trump from executing on what he campaigned on, which is
government efficiency.
About 16 percent of the Federal workforce right now is in any one of
those buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue. I think that over the coming
months, with the DOGE committee and some of those efforts--and I hope
we can work in a bipartisan way. I agree, this shouldn't be a partisan
issue. Saving money should not be a partisan issue. And there are some
people that probably need to go. There are great Federal workers in our
Federal workforce, but we are wasting a lot of money, and people aren't
even willing to show up to work right now.
So having flexibility to deliver on the message that people saw cross
their television screens and in rallies all across this country over
the last 2 years during the Presidential campaign--that is what this is
about. This bill would thwart those efforts, and that is why I am
objecting.
Therefore, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, just a brief response.
My colleague from Missouri mentioned the fact that recent decisions
of the Supreme Court have put more burden on the shoulders of Congress
not to abdicate decision-making responsibility but to own it, and that
is precisely what my bill would do. It would not block a President from
trying to make reforms to the Federal civil service; it would just
require that the President do so in consultation with the article I
branch.
That article I branch, come January 3, is going to be two Republican
Houses. I can't imagine why a Trump Presidency would be afraid of two
Republican Houses. If any proposal with respect to the Federal civil
service has merit, it would seem that the President should have some
sense of confidence that he can convince the next Congress of the
United States to go along with it. But if, in fact, he is worried about
his ability to convince two Republican Houses to go along with plans
with respect to the Federal Civil Service, I think that should tell us
something.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Welch). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Committee on Indian Affairs Legislation
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, the past 4 years have been historic for
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs by almost any measure. We
secured the largest investment in Native communities in American
history, totaling more than $45 billion. We had the committee's most
productive 4-year period ever, passing more than a dozen bills into
law. And, just this month, we passed another 10 bills in the Senate
that are waiting for action in the House.
Taken together, these record investments and laws cover a wide range
of priorities for native people--securing ancestral lands and waters,
building safer communities for children and elders, and turning a new
page on the boarding school era by promoting native languages,
education, and healing.
But the numbers alone don't tell the story because behind each of
these statutes and investments are real, tangible benefits for Native
communities everywhere--from the homes they live in to the roads they
get around on to the water they drink every day--and I am proud that we
have been able to deliver such important investments in Indian Country,
on Hawaiian homelands, and in Alaska Native villages, whose needs have
been so often overlooked or even sometimes harmed by the Federal
Government.
This progress means more people will have homes with working
electricity and clean, piped water. Advance appropriations for the
Indian Health Service, for the first time ever, means people don't have
to worry about whether or not they can get to a doctor or not if the
government shuts down. Significant investments in Tribal transportation
and infrastructure means that communities are one step closer to making
dirt roads and broadband deserts a thing of the past. And thanks to the
provisions in the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, Tribes
can be in charge of their own safety again with the ability to keep
their children and their neighbors safe.
The committee has also enacted three water rights settlements into
law and secured $2.5 billion to pay for these and the more than 30
other already enacted settlements. There is more work to do to get
other settlements over the line, and we are going to continue to work
with our House colleagues to get it done.
Rebuilding Tribal homelands, expanding broadband, building out
transportation projects were key priorities for our committee on a
bipartisan basis. We were also focused on helping Native communities
unlock clean energy and adapt to a changing climate. Elsewhere, we put
real resources into the Federal Government's efforts to revitalize
Native languages and work to bring healing around the Federal Indian
boarding school era.
From day one, our work was guided by the voices of Native leaders and
community members--``nothing about me without me'' as the saying goes--
and we couldn't have done this without the incredible leadership of
Native people across our great country, telling us
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what matters and holding us accountable.
The progress, though long overdue, is still in progress. The bills we
passed and the investments we have made will materially benefit
people's lives--for American Indians, for Native Hawaiians, and Alaska
Natives. Now, that doesn't mean we get to call it a day, because to say
that this is the most productive period for Native people as it relates
to congressional action in American history is to say two things: It is
to say we did a lot. It is certainly to say we did a lot. We did it on
a bipartisan basis. We did it with extraordinary staff from my Indian
Affairs Committee staffers to Lisa Murkowski's staffers, to all of the
Members and advocacy organizations. We did a lot. It is also to
acknowledge that it was a damned low bar. Most Congresses not only
didn't help Native communities much but actively harmed Native
communities a lot.
The official position of the United States Federal Government was the
extermination of Tribal governments. The official position with the
Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. military, the Department of the
Interior, and other Federal Agencies and their representatives was to
essentially dismantle Native cultures--language, access to water,
access to land. They cut the children's hair. They punished them
physically if they spoke their Native language. They removed these
children from their parents and incarcerated them in something that
they called boarding schools, but let's be clear. It wasn't a boarding
school in the sense of ``my kid is 16. We have some extra money. Maybe
they are going to go to a good school on the east coast somewhere.''
They were incarcerated.
So it is true that we have done a lot. It is also true that we have
done a lot--that we have harmed Native communities for centuries, and
this 4-year period marks a change in the relationship between the U.S.
Federal Government and Native communities from Hawaii to Alaska and all
across the continent.
And so I am extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of this
committee, but I don't want anyone to mistake this for a victory lap.
We have so much more to do to undo, literally, generations of
injustice. No amount of work we are going to do in a year or even 4
years is going to suddenly and totally reverse generations of neglect
and harm by the Federal Government. Yet this is a moment to recognize
the great work we have done. It is broadband; it is water; it is
economic opportunity; it is Native culture; it is Native language; it
is Native music. It is people being in control of their own
intellectual property, in control of their own destinies.
That is what this is about. This is about the right of people--the
first peoples of the United States--to self-determination. I am proud
to be a small part of that legacy.
I yield the floor.
(Mr. BROWN assumed the Chair.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Welch). The senior Senator from the great
State of Ohio.
Farewell to the Senate
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I am here at desk 88, honored to address my
family and friends and Ohioans of the Nation.
I remember well my first speech 18 years ago. Illinois Senator Barack
Obama was presiding over the Senate. Following parliamentary norms--and
perhaps a bit presciently--I addressed him as ``Mr. President.''
A few desks away sat the senior Senator from Massachusetts, whose
brother's desk I have now occupied for my entire three terms. Senator
Kennedy, the chair of the Labor Committee, spoke after my remarks about
his commitment and my commitment to workers. My speech, no surprise to
anyone, was about workers and their dignity, raising the minimum wage,
creating more opportunity for people who build this country with their
brains and with their hands.
By some measure, my life began less than 3 miles from here. My dad, a
family doctor from Mansfield, OH, and my mother a teacher from
Mansfield, GA, met at a soldiers' dance in 1945 at the Mayflower Hotel.
My father had returned from serving in the Army in the Middle East; my
mother had moved to Washington to assist in the war effort to work at
OSS. Their first date a few days later was at the Willard Hotel.
When they married the next year, my father moved to Mansfield, OH,
then a prosperous industrial city where Ohioans made steel and
manufactured cars and tires and appliances for young families returning
from World War II.
When I was in high school, my mother, troubled by racism she saw in
smalltown Georgia as a kid and in Ohio when she moved there, helped
found the Ohio council of YWCAs. The 165-year mission of the Young
Women's Christian Association is to eliminate racism and to empower
women.
My dad was a family doctor with a working-class practice. He always
took care of people, regardless of their ability to pay.
From them came my values and my desire to serve. From my parents--he
a conservative, she a liberal; he a Republican, she a Democrat; he a
northerner, she a southerner--taught me by their action and their
admonition that the role of government was to help the little guy; the
big guy could take care of himself.
I went to Johnny Appleseed Junior High--that was really its name--and
walked the halls with the sons and daughters of autoworkers at GM,
electrical workers of Westinghouse, steelworkers of Empire-Detroit,
machinists at Tappan Stove, and the daughters and sons of the thousands
of millwrights and electricians and laborers and pipefitters who kept
those plants running. These workers, especially those lucky enough to
carry union cards, could buy a home, take a vacation, and join a
growing middle class.
But by the time I graduated from Mansfield Senior High School, these
plants were starting to shut down. Corporations searched the globe for
cheap labor. First, they moved south to anti-union States; then they
lobbied for tax breaks and bad trade deals to move jobs overseas.
Always--always in search, Mr. President--of lower wages.
Compliant politicians were all too happy to oblige. They called it
the North American Free Trade Agreement; they called it Most Favored
Nation status with China--honest to God, that was its original name;
they called it the Central American Free Trade Agreement; they called
it the Trans-Pacific Partnership--until we put a stop to it.
And Wall Street rewarded those countries and those politicians over
and over and over again. I saw what corporate greed and, frankly,
Presidents of both parties did to my hometown and towns like it all
over this country.
Through all my years in Congress, I have tried to be the voice in the
megaphone for those workers and for those communities.
I think back to 2003. Every night, at the other end of this
building--every night--I stood in the well of the House of
Representatives reading letters from Ohioans opposing Bush's war in
Iraq--from Cleveland to Cincinnati, from Dayton to Columbus, from
Toledo to Athens. The White House, on flimsy evidence but with an itch
to go to war, was sending working-class kids from Ohio to fight and,
too often, to die in Iraq, a war that history tells us was a colossal
mistake.
I drew inspiration from President John Quincy Adams who had returned
to the House in his attack on slavery. To evade House rules that
prohibited--believe it or not--that prohibited debating slavery, rules
forced on the people's House by enslavers, by southern enslavers, he
read letter after letter from his constituents about the evils of
slavery and advocating for its abolition.
Then as now, our duty is to amplify the voices of the people whom we
serve. To be that strong and effective megaphone, you start by
listening.
I remember when I helped lead the opposition in my first year in the
House to NAFTA. Bill Richardson, a pro-NAFTA Democrat from New Mexico,
lamented the fact that Members would go home during congressional
recess. He said, ``You know, every time Members of Congress go home, my
side loses votes.''
Well, there is a reason for that. We are supposed to listen to our
constituents. So almost every week, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I
am in Ohio. I have crisscrossed this State, from Ashtabula to Athens,
from Gallipolis to Zanesville to Portsmouth to Springfield to Van Wert
to Toledo to Shelby--
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all over this State holding roundtables, walking picket lines, touring
plants, talking to workers in break rooms and on worksites and behind
checkout counters.
On Monday afternoons, I return to Washington carrying a satchel of
good ideas drawn from Ohioans. My job in both the House and Senate has
been to represent those workers, to listen to them, to speak out for
them, to fight for them; not to listen to Wall Street, not the drug
companies, not the big railroads, but to fight for the people who make
this country work.
Over the last few weeks, people have come up to me, since the
election, at the grocery store, after church, at the airport, in the
halls of the Senate asking how I am doing. There are two reasons I
answer, ``I am doing well.'' First is this team, the team around me. I
have never been prouder of the public servants who work in this office,
how they immediately went to work to help and support each other. All
of them, all of them have dedicated themselves to making sure their
colleagues land well and to making sure casework for Ohioans is handed
off to other Members of Congress.
Over the last few weeks, I have been meeting with every single staff
member--70 in all--to discuss their careers and their futures.
The second reason is that for me, this job has never really been
about the title of being a U.S. Senator. Much of the important work we
have done has been driven not by a bunch of Washington insiders but by
ordinary Ohioans. I think about the fight to save workers' pensions.
When Wall Street gambled away workers' retirement savings, we fought
back.
Washington ignored Ohio workers, didn't take them seriously. Most
people in Washington don't really even understand what collective
bargaining is, that workers give up raises at the bargaining table for
pensions and paid into them over a lifetime, all for the promise of a
secure retirement for their family.
Ohioans put this on the agenda. They kept it there. They--we--never
gave up, and together we passed the Butch Lewis Act, named for an
Ohioan, saving the pensions of 100,000 Ohio workers and a million
workers serving this country.
Or think how we expanded healthcare for veterans exposed to those
football field-sized burn pits. Ohio veterans and their families came
to us. They put it on the agenda. They forced--forced--Washington to
listen. Veterans traveled to Washington. Many of them camped outside
this door not far from here to make this happen. Because of them, the
Heath Robinson PACT Act--again named for an Ohioan--is now law.
Those fights aren't quick, particularly when they require taking on
powerful corporate interests.
Back when I was in the House more than two decades ago, we organized
bus trips for Ohio seniors to Canada to save money on prescription
drugs. Three-hour bus ride from Lorain to Toledo to Detroit, across the
river to Windsor, Ontario, so they could save money on prescription
drugs.
Throughout my entire time in the Senate and before, we fought big
Pharma and their lobbyists trying to lower the cost of prescription
drugs. Two years ago, finally we won. This never happens fast. We
capped the price of insulin at $35 a month for Medicare beneficiaries.
For the first time, Medicare was negotiating drug prices for seniors.
These victories, as I say, they don't come easy. Of course they
don't, but they matter to millions of families. When we stand up to
corporate special interest, when we guarantee workers a seat at the
table, when we see decisions here through the eyes of workers, we all
do our jobs a little bit differently and better.
We included a project labor agreement for 8,000 workers at a single
construction site, ensuring a path to middle class for those families.
We expanded the childcare tax credit, giving more than 90 percent of
American families a tax cut to keep up with the cost of living--2
million children in Ohio, 60 million around the country benefited, if
only for a year.
We are on the verge of restoring the full Social Security benefits
that police officers and teachers and firefighters and busdrivers and
school cafeteria workers have earned.
With Finance Chair Ron Wyden, we created an industrial policy to
build more manufacturing in our country. And we have fundamentally--
fundamentally--changed the debate on trade in this country. Of course,
this town is still full of people who think that way, whose arrogance
won't allow their world view to be changed by all the evidence that
corporate trade deals have failed our workers, failed our communities,
and, frankly, poisoned our politics.
They no longer go unchallenged and unquestioned. They used to
ridicule you if you spoke up for workers, if you dared to suggest that
no amount of compensating the losers, no amount of compensation can
replace the dignity of a good-paying, rewarding job--no longer.
I have always looked at things a little differently, perhaps, than
some. To me, politics is not really left or right or liberal or
conservative. It is really about whose side you are on and whom you are
willing to fight for, whom you are willing to stand up to. That is what
true populism is all about. True populism lifts all people. True
populism doesn't tear others down. True populism doesn't play to race
and division. True populism is essentially about the dignity of work,
putting workers at the center of all we should be doing.
When I talk about workers, I mean all workers--whether you swipe a
badge or punch a clock, whether you work for tips or whether you work
on salary, whether you are going to school or raising kids or caring
for an aging parent. No matter who you are, no matter where you live,
no matter what kind of work you do, your work has dignity. It ought to
pay off for you and your family. We have that in common. With all the
differences we have as a country, we have work in common. Work is
really what binds us.
For too many people in Ohio and around the country, hard work hasn't
paid off. Today, far too many workers don't see a path to the middle
class, no matter how hard they work.
For almost a half a century--we know this, we know this--we should be
challenging this. For half a century, the stock market soared;
executive compensation has exploded; corporate profits have risen
dramatically; worker productivity has increased, but workers' wages
have been comparatively flat, and costs keep going up.
Until we solve the fundamental problem in this country, until hard
work is valued, until everyone has a path to the middle class and the
stability and security of a good-paying job, our work in this body, my
work as a private citizen, come January, that work is unfinished.
If you want to know why so many workers think the system is rigged
against them, just look at what happened 3 weeks ago in East Texas. It
is a little fanfare. A single judge, appointed by President Trump, at
the behest of the Texas Chamber of Commerce, struck down a Labor
Department rule which guaranteed overtime for workers making $35,000 or
$40,000 a year.
That ought to be a fundamental principle. If you put in extra hours,
you ought to earn extra pay. You did the work; you earned it. One
judge, one decision, four million workers lost their overtime. One
judge, one decision, four million workers lost their overtime. That is
why we make this fight.
In 1891, Pope Leo XIII wrote what is recognized as the first time an
international figure acknowledged the rights of workers and the duty of
employers to respect workers' inherent dignity. In Rerum Novarum, he
wrote that ``to respect in every man his dignity,'' required respecting
workers' rights to fair compensation and safe humane working
conditions.
Think about this. Seven decades later, in a segregated Tennessee, in
a segregated city of Memphis, in a segregated neighborhood, amidst a
torrential downpour, four sanitation workers climbed into--yes--a
segregated garbage truck to shield themselves from the rain. Two White
workers settled into the warmth and the safety of the cab. Two Black
workers crawled in the back, amidst the garbage, where the compactor
malfunctioned, and two young Black workers were crushed to death.
Dr. King went to Memphis twice that year. He went after that
happened. The
[[Page S7075]]
second time, we know he was murdered. Both times, he was fighting for
the dignity of work. He wove together better than anybody I know of in
history--wove together civil rights, voting rights, and worker rights
better than anybody ever has.
In a speech to ACME Sanitation workers, a month after the workers
were crushed to death, he spoke at ACME on March 18 in Memphis:
So often we overlook the work and the significance of those
who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the
so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight--
Dr. King went on--
that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity
. . . it has dignity and it has worth.
All labor has dignity. While the shape of our fight for the dignity
of work may change, it will, of course, continue. And I count on my
colleagues to do that.
I will close the same way I have closed so many speeches across Ohio
because the values I fight for have not changed and will never change
come January. On my lapel, I wear this pin. Some of you have one on
today. Thank you. Many of you do.
I wear this pin--I know you don't wear it every day, but thank you
for wearing it--depicting a canary in a birdcage. It was given to me at
a workers' Memorial Day rally 25 years ago in Lorain, OH.
You know the story. At the turn of the last century, coal miners took
the canary down into the mines with them to warn them of poisonous
gases. They didn't have a union strong enough to protect them. They
didn't have a government that cared enough to protect them. He was on
his own.
But over the last century and a half, think about what we as a nation
have done. Think of what we have done to change that. All those fights
required going up against powerful special interests. I think about the
lesson that any union organizer knows. They don't just give you fair
wages and better benefits and retirement. They don't give it to you.
You have to go out and take it. That is how progress works.
Wall Street didn't just wake up one day and say: You know, older
people ought to have a pension. We ought to give them--no, we demanded
Social Security, we fought for it, and we got it.
Companies 100 years ago didn't just all of a sudden think: You know,
work is too hard; we ought to have an 8-hour workday. We ought to ban
child labor. No. We fought for it. We demanded it. We got it.
Big insurance companies didn't just all of a sudden think: You know,
there are a lot of seniors that just can't afford their healthcare. No.
We fought for it; we demanded it; and we got Medicare.
In the 1960s, a bunch of Southern segregationists didn't say: You
know, everybody ought to have the right to vote. No. We fought for it.
We demanded it. We got voting rights in this country.
And then, just 2 years ago, the drug companies didn't all of a sudden
say: Insulin costs too damn much. We have got to do something. Drugs
are too expensive. No. We took them on. We fought for it. We got a $35
insulin cap.
Those fights--progress didn't just happen on their own course.
So when I first came to the Senate, like all new Senators, they gave
me a really cool, pretty expensive-looking piece of jewelry to say: I
am a big shot. I am a Senator, and walk around. Well, I wore that for a
couple days, and then I thought, you know, it didn't feel right. So I
took it off. I put my canary pin back on. I have worn it every day
since.
So when I walk off the Senate floor at the end of this year, nothing
changes. I am not taking off this pin. I am not giving up my fight for
workers. If you love this country, you fight for the people who make it
work every day.
In January, I return to Ohio, close to the seven grandchildren who
are sitting in the Gallery today. My wife Connie surprised me last
night with their showing up at a dinner with their parents in tow. My
grandchildren are in the Gallery--some sitting there patiently, some
perhaps not so patiently. Leo and Jackie and Milo and Carolyn and
Russell and Ela and Maribell sitting with Emily and Matt. Sitting with
Elizabeth and Patrick and Caitlin and Alejandro. And Clayton, our
oldest, is taking finals today, but their dad Andy is here. My journey
has been a family affair.
With my brothers Bob and Charlie, for literally 50 years with the
sacrifices that family members inevitably make to ambition, to
service--yes, sometimes to ego--for a career of serving the public.
To my beloved Connie, how selfless she has been as I pursued this
dream. Her exceptional talent is exceeded only by her kindness in
spirit, as a wife and mother and grandmother extraordinaire. There is
no one like her. How lucky I have been the last 22 years.
So to my colleagues, this is my last speech on the Senate floor. But
it is not, I promise you, the last time you will hear from me.
Thank you.
(Applause, Senators rising.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Tribute to Sherrod Brown
Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I know we have a number of colleagues who
want to speak. I will be very brief.
I just want to start by saying how grateful we are for the service of
Sherrod Brown in the U.S. Senate and the great work that he has done.
He reminded us to make sure that we wore the canary pin. And for me, it
has a special significance, even though I haven't been wearing it all
these years, but I wanted to wear it today. But it is especially
significant because I have ancestors who worked, of course, in the
anthracite coal mines. But I think, in so many ways, it is emblematic
of his service, that he never forgot where he came from, never forgot
who sent him here, and you heard that throughout his remarks today
about the work he has done on behalf of American working men and women
and their families.
When the history of the labor movement of the United States--if it
were ever written, of course, it wouldn't be one book. It would be a
multivolume work by some scholar, maybe sometime in the future. But
whenever that complete and comprehensive history is written, there will
be a significant portion of that history written about the work of
Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio because no one that I am aware of that
has served in this body has done more for workers in the time he has
been in the Senate.
The last thing I want to say is what he did--and there are too many
to mention here today--but I want to thank him for what he did leading
the effort, which culminated in 2021, March of 2021, at 5:34 a.m. in
the morning, when the first vote was taken on the American Rescue Plan.
Among many things that bill did was allowed us to take the child tax
credit--an existing tax credit--and turbocharge it for America's
children. As he said, 60 million American children--2 million in Ohio,
a little more than 2 million in my home State of Pennsylvania. It would
not have happened without his leadership.
So with that, I will yield the floor and thank Senator Brown again
for his service.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, as another occupant of the back row, I
just want to add my incredible thanks for not just his family but for
Sherrod and what he stood for in this place. We are going to forever
miss him.
We are going to miss--right, Senator Casey--Chuck looking back at
this row and glaring at us because Sherrod was talking. ``It is not us.
It is not us.''
(Laughter.)
I will forever cherish the note in my desk to Bob that says: Get him
to be quiet now. They are going to throw us out.
Sherrod, you have made trouble, but it is a whole lot of good trouble
on behalf of the people of this country.
I look up there at Connie, and I will forever love that story that I
will not do justice to, but it is the story of when Connie was in an
audience and Sherrod was speaking. And a guy she doesn't know turns to
her and says: God, I hate that guy's voice.
And she says: Yeah?
And he says: Yeah. You know, it is a bit like fingernails on a
blackboard.
And Connie says: Really, you don't like that guy's voice?
He says: Yeah.
And she says: I like his voice.
And he says: You like his voice?
And she says: Yeah. You know when I really like it?
[[Page S7076]]
She leans into the guy, the guy leans in, and Connie goes: I really
like it when he wakes me up in the middle of the night and says in that
gravelly voice: ``I love you, baby.''
(Laughter.)
Your love of Connie and the two of you together is something that is
such a model for all of us here. Her success, your success is part of
this U.S. Senate story.
And that pin you wear--that canary in the coal mine--this is not the
last time we are all going to wear it. For me, it was not just about
workers, which is about its glory, but it is also about what we have to
confront in this place--the toxicity of this place sometimes--and that
you, Sherrod--for us, you were that canary in the coal mine. You are
the one reminding us why we are really here when, some days, you just
can't believe that people are doing certain things or stopping certain
good pieces of legislation for the people of this country.
You are that person for us who stood up not just when the cameras
were on but behind closed doors. You reminded us and reminded your
staff to carry on, and they are going to take that torch with them and
those pins with them every single place they go. So thank you for
giving us that inspiration, Sherrod. Thank you for your work.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. BOOKER. First of all, I am going to come out to the aisle because
this is ``doing the Sherrod,'' when you get far away from your desk. I
literally think, if the leash were long enough, he would have opened
the door and taken a couple steps out and come running in and down the
aisle.
(Laughter.)
I stand today with a similar start because there was this moment in
the cloakroom when I was a new guy in the Senate, and I talked about
Tester saying to me very loudly in the cloakroom: I didn't think I was
going to like you when I first got here.
Then Sherrod chimed in right away--and you will remember this,
Sherrod--and said: I didn't think I would like you either.
Now, I didn't care about Jon Tester because I don't like Jon Tester.
(Laughter.)
But I really cared that Sherrod Brown would say that, at one point,
he didn't like me. But I knew he liked me when he said it, because when
I came to the Senate, he surprised me. He did something I never
expected. I had great experiences when I first came here--friendships,
colleagues stepping up--I see my chairman here--putting me under their
arm, but Sherrod did it in a way that really surprised me.
He said: Hey, Cory. I want to work with you on something really
important.
And I thought of all of these big issues in the Senate. Is it Social
Security? Is it lowering prescription drug prices? I thought: What are
we going to do for America?
Sherrod Brown blew me away.
He said: I want to fight for fair wages for the cafeteria workers who
work in the basement of the buildings we work in.
Immediately, it floored me.
I started working in this place in 2013--and I will never forget--it
was the least diverse place I had ever worked. I came here, and on one
of the first nights I worked past 10 p.m., I left out of the employees'
entrance. I saw the line of employees walking in, and they were mostly
Black and Brown people. When I went to the basement to get something to
eat in the cafeteria, the cafeteria workers were mostly Black and Brown
folks. They didn't have a Senator living in Washington, DC, but Sherrod
was someone who stood up for their dignity.
Sherrod, I have been struggling all week because I feel emotional,
like losing you. I had this poem that kept coming up over and over
again--it is really short, and I know you know it--but I did not
understand why this was the poem, and I want to try to explain it to
you. It is a poem by Langston Hughes. It is entitled ``I, too, sing
America.''
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
[Because] tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
[And] nobody'll dare
Say to me,
``Eat in the kitchen,''
Then.
Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--
I, too, [sing] America.
Sherrod, I have served with you for 11 years, and the thing I love
the most about you is you see people. You see the folks who others walk
past and don't even affirm their humanity. And you just don't see
people; what you have shown me time and time again from my first week
as a U.S. Senator is that you see the folks who are the most important
to the very idea of America--the idea that people have sweat for and
cried for and bled for. To me, that is the definition of what it means
to represent people, all the people.
So I end with this, and it is a moment from American history because
I know you are such a nerd.
(Laughter.)
You, frankly, just never fit my image of what I thought a Senator
would look like. You are frumpy, and you are disheveled--and the only
person who has messier hair than you is Bernie, for crying out loud.
(Laughter.)
But there are five words I think I want to say to you in my final
farewell to you in an official capacity, standing in the aisle that you
so defined. And it is a simple story from history after Lincoln gave
his second inaugural address: Malice towards none and charity towards
all--the ideal that you live that there is no us and them. It is just
us.
Lincoln retired to a reception afterward, and it was crowded. And
people were pulling at him and trying to get his attention, and he was
pushing through the crowds, looking for one person who almost didn't
get into the reception. This guy had to be recognized by someone
because he was Black and was pulled in to be allowed to be at this
incredible reception. The President pushes by him. The historians say
it was the Governor of Rhode Island who was trying to talk to him, but
he kept pushing towards this man.
And he said to this man: My friend, what did you think of my speech?
This man, regal in stature, humble in spirit, looked at him and said:
Mr. President, you should attend to your guests.
And President Lincoln is said to have waved him off and said: No. I
want to know what you thought of my speech. I need to know, my friend,
what you thought of my speech.
This would be the last time in American history that these two men
would ever speak because Lincoln would soon be assassinated. These were
the last words that they exchanged. And if you allow me these five
words, I just want to say to you, in my last farewell to you after your
farewell speech, as Frederick Douglass looked at Abraham Lincoln and
simply said:
It was a sacred effort. It was a sacred effort.
Your 18-year career here was a sacred effort to see everyone in our
great country as an American, to affirm their humanity, to affirm their
dignity, and to elevate our highest virtues.
Thank you, my friend.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am saddened by the comment from Sherrod
that this is his farewell speech.
As I said to several of my colleagues, we lose so many good ones
here, and after we have lost them to retirement and to election
results, the Senate really is an empty place, and it will be in that
corner. For as long as I have been honored to serve here, that place
has been occupied by Sherrod.
What makes such a difference in this man? Why is he viewed so
differently? Why have so many showed up to hear his farewell speech?
Well, what I am about to say you can say about him and about Connie,
his wife.
There was a man named Jack Valenti, who used to be an adviser to the
Presidents, and he gave President Lyndon Johnson a piece of advice. He
said: Every good speech should include six words. Let me tell you a
story.
Time and again, Sherrod Brown told us a story. It was a story from a
picket
[[Page S7077]]
line. It was a story from a clothes factory. It was a story that you
picked from your home State of Ohio and as you traveled around this
country. And those stories, much like the stories that Connie has told
over and over again in her celebrated writing, really illustrate the
values of this country. You can give a sterile speech about political
science all you wish, but if you tell a story that touches the heart of
the listener, it can make a difference in them as it has made in you.
Time and again, Sherrod has told those stories. That canary in a cage
is a classic example. It tells you that he not only saw injustice but
he spoke out against it, and he has dedicated his life to stopping it.
And that inspires all of us--to listen to these stories and to realize
they are the true story of America.
Now, this troubadour--this speaker, this man who has inspired us so
often--is stepping into a different place in life.
All I can ask is one favor: Tell stories. You have so many that you
have lived and so many things that need to be shared. I know that you,
like your wife, are a writer--you wrote a great book about the desk at
which you are sitting--and I know that you know what history means. But
there is another job for you. I am not sure what it is, but I hope it
will tap into your talent and your values.
I remember that day. You said it many times. It was the greatest day
in your service in the Senate. It involved the child tax credit, as Bob
Casey has talked to us about, and it also, I am sure, involved the idea
of finally giving these retirees a fighting chance and a wage with
which to sustain their families. Your fingerprints were all over that,
Sherrod. It is the kind of issue that you run for office for and fight
for--and make a difference in the history of this country.
So remember those words as you go forward. Your stories have inspired
us. Keep telling those stories.
And, Connie, I know you will. I will look for your byline.
I wish you the best.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, when I was wrestling, along with Mary, my
wife, about whether to run for the Senate, I had the chance to meet the
Senator from Ohio and his wife at a gathering in Massachusetts, and I
came away believing that service here could matter.
When I learned of your background and your fight, Sherrod, I thought
that is my fight, too. I want to be here and join you in this effort.
You know, with my dad a mechanic and my mother a secretary, I don't
know how the hell I ended up here on the floor of the Senate, but it is
because of believing in the vision of America that you referred to at
the close of your speech. While I can't quote it exactly, it was along
the lines of: If you love America, you fight for America's worker--or:
You fight for the workers who make America function.
We are in a system now that is so rigged with liars and lobbyists and
dark money, but the antidote is individuals like yourself who say:
Public service matters. I am not here to help the rich become richer or
the corporations become stronger. I am here to fight for the foundation
for every family to thrive--on healthcare, on housing, on education,
and on a good-paying job, with an honest day's pay for a fair day's
work.
I then saw you in action on the Banking Committee. Now, Elizabeth
Warren had this idea for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but
she wasn't here in the Senate yet. But on that committee, in working on
Dodd-Frank, we collectively delivered that and so much more through
that process, including taking on the false mortgages--the predatory
mortgages--that were turning the dream of homeownership into a
nightmare. There is probably a dozen powerful factors in there for
America's workers. We made a difference in those years--you made a
difference--and I was so happy to see you lead the Banking Committee.
I can't tell you what a loss it is to this Chamber and what a loss it
is to the workers of America that I will no longer see you in that
chair, but I know I will see you somewhere down the trail, fighting the
good fight.
Thank you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, I have a little bit of a beef here with
Senator Brown because right before he spoke, I admonished him to try
not to choke up during his speech, and, of course, this was a fool's
errand. It was like asking the Sun not to shine; and, of course, it was
highly predictable that what would cause that gravelly voice of his to
get even more of a catch in it was when he was talking about his family
and also about his staff--his work family.
The very first time I met Sherrod, I could see that this was a man
with a huge heart and tons of energy.
I recognized in you, Sherrod, the Midwest populism that I come from,
from the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
I sit in the seat that was once held by Paul Wellstone, as you know,
who famously said, ``When we all do better, we all do better.'' I know
that has been the guiding light of your service.
There are plenty of people here in Washington watching out for the
rich people, the powerful people, and the big corporations, but you
have always been our guide in watching out for everybody else, the
people who actually make this country work.
I saw this firsthand when you and I worked together on one piece of
legislation--the Butch Lewis Act--to basically say that hard-working
folks who earned their pensions, who lost their pensions through no
fault of their own, deserve to be able to retire with dignity. This is,
of course, one of the most important promises of organized labor--a
fair wage, safe working conditions, and to be able to retire with
dignity. Because of your work, I had a chance to see what that really
meant for people.
I will never forget one of the first meetings I did when I first was
a U.S. Senator. I went up to Duluth, MN, an old industrial community on
the shores of Lake Superior. It is a beautiful community--probably not
unlike Mansfield--that in some ways had seen better days, as the
shipping out of jobs happened and affected them. I talked to some of
those hard-working teamsters, retired teamsters, about the importance
of their pension and what we were doing, what I was doing with Sherrod
Brown to help to protect their pensions.
I will never forget this one woman. She described to me what it meant
that she had paid in, she had done everything right, and now she was
running the risk of losing that. She said to me: Tina, that is my plan
A, B, and C. I don't have another plan. My other plan is to live under
a bridge.
That work, just that one piece of work that you did, that you led us
on to make sure those pensions were there for folks, is a legacy that
all of us can aspire to.
Throughout your career, you always made sure that, while so many
others were watching out for the folks who already had it pretty good,
the people who make this country work had a voice.
I, too, am wearing my canary pin today, and I think that your legacy
in this body will be all of us who don't forget your work but continue
it.
You know, the hope that we can do better, that there is more work
ahead of us, and that we have the energy for fight--I mean, hope is an
act of will; it is not an article of faith. It takes the will of all of
us. I know that you have inspired in all of us in this Chamber--at
least many of us--the will to continue to fight with hope and optimism
that we will make this country live up to its full promise.
I can't wait to see what you do next. As you have famously said--and
I will leave out some of the adjectives--you are not dying here, you
are just going on to the next thing. I know those of us who have heard
this story are grateful that on the floor of the Senate, I am only
giving an abbreviated version.
I know I am one of many who love you very much and can't wait to see
what you do next.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I say to Senator Brown: I have my pin.
I am taking your desk. I am going to get your office. And I wouldn't
mind having your hair and your eloquence.
(Laughter.)
For me, Sherrod Brown--and for many of our colleagues--has always
[[Page S7078]]
been a role model, a friend, a voice for people who are often unseen,
and also a real example of integrity. When you talk to Sherrod Brown,
you may not agree with him, but you know what he says is what he
believes.
You know, we live in a day where politicians are often distrusted and
demeaned, maybe as never before, but what you have done for me and for
my family is to give politics a good name, to make sure that people
understand that the word ``politician'' is not a four-letter word; it
is something I am proud to say--I am a politician because I try to be
like Sherrod Brown.
You know, that kind of politician doesn't always win. It is just a
fact of life that people often take stands; they espouse causes; they
champion people or issues that may not be popular at that moment. But
they are vindicated by history.
I have been proud to stand with you, Sherrod, for some of those
causes, and I know they will be vindicated by history.
As I told your staff--some of them--in that office, the Sherrod Brown
office, we are going to have a conference room named after you. It is a
trivial thing to do, but it will remind us that we will be asking
ourselves at moments, tough moments, moments of crisis: What would
Sherrod do? What would he think? What would he say?
I will continue to value you as a friend and as a role model. Thank
you, Sherrod, for all you have done for all of us. Godspeed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I want to be brief, but I would like to
briefly say something that might be an odd thing for the Senator from
Colorado to say, which is how grateful I am to the people of Ohio for
sending Sherrod Brown to the U.S. Senate for all of these years and how
much I wish that you had sent him back one more time.
I say that in part because I once lived in Ohio and was a young
person there, learning something about politics in the late eighties
and early nineties. Sherrod Brown was my secretary of state. He was the
same person then that he is today in all the important ways and a
progressive voice for the people of Ohio.
It was an amazing thing for me to come to this place and meet Sherrod
as a fellow Senator and to sit in that chair and preside, while Sherrod
stood--I don't remember when that was, when it would have been; Barack
Obama probably was in the early days of his Presidency--and listen to
the names of cities and towns all across Ohio ricochet around the
marble Chamber that we are in with such joy because I had been to those
places myself.
I can remember hearing him fight against the characterization by
outsiders of the place he lived and the place he grew up as the Rust
Bowl of the United States instead of the industrial heartland of the
United States, for him to remind people in this Chamber of the
important--as he was describing today--the critical contribution that
working people make to this Nation every day, all day, over many years,
whether they are living in the industrial heartland or anywhere else in
America, because for Sherrod, workers in every State in this country
count and matter.
But I want to just say thank you on behalf of the children that I
used to work for in the Denver public schools. I was the superintendent
when my friend Cory Booker was the mayor of Newark. We worked together
in those days, and we have had the chance to work together here.
There are many times that I have been on this floor, Senator Brown,
when I worried about whether the children I used to work for in Denver,
who are mostly kids of color, mostly kids living in poverty, whether
anybody here had their interests at heart or whether anybody here could
even see them or whether we had actually become really comfortable in
the sense that we were treating our kids like they were someone else's
kids, not even the country's kids. More than anybody else in this
place, you have lifted their voices. You have seen the kids that I
represented or worked for in the Denver public schools.
The chance for you and Bob and Cory and I to work together on the
child tax credit, which went to 90 percent of America's kids and cut
child poverty in half, is a symbol to all of us, I think, of what is
possible if we dedicate ourselves to the idea that this country has to
live up to its aspirations. That is something you never have let us
forget. I know you have talked about it over and over again, how one of
the happiest days of your time in the Senate was the day we passed that
bill. Bob mentioned that.
I will say for a lot of us who are here today, this is one of the
saddest days in the Senate because the contribution that you have made
here is one that is so unique and so singular, and it is entirely
unfinished.
I don't feel sorry for you, but I feel sorry for the rest of us. I
know we are counting on you--counting on you--to make sure that you
continue to fight the fight you have been fighting from the day you
arrived here, the days you were secretary of state all those years ago
in Ohio, for the rest of your life.
Thanks, Sherrod, for your leadership and your friendship and for
everything you have done for the American people.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
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