[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 7, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S35-S36]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING JIMMY CARTER

  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, later today, President Jimmy Carter will 
arrive here at the Capitol for the last time. He will lie in state 
until Thursday in the Capitol Rotunda so Americans can pay final 
respects to our Nation's 39th President.
  It is the great American story--how a man or woman can rise from 
humble origins to the highest levels of government or business or 
academia--and it was Jimmy Carter's story.
  Born in 1924 in Plains, GA, he grew up on a peanut farm, in a house 
that had no running water or electricity. President was probably not 
the first thing people would have thought of when considering his 
future career. Most might have thought that he would end up running the 
family farm, as, indeed, he did for a while.
  But he decided to also dip his toe into politics, and, within 14 
years, he had gone from taking up office in the

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Georgia State Senate to taking up office as President of the United 
States.
  His Presidency was notable for a number of things, including 
successful brokering of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, an 
agreement that stands to this day. But it was, perhaps, his post-
Presidency that came to define his legacy the most.
  Jimmy Carter left office in 1981, and during the four decades that 
followed, he dedicated himself to making a difference to the causes of 
peace and human rights and to improving the wellbeing of his fellow 
man. Together, with his wife Rosalynn, he founded the Carter Center, 
which, among other things, works for the eradication of disease in some 
of the poorest areas of the globe. Among the center's successes is the 
almost whole eradication of Guinea worm disease, a painful and 
devastating tropical disease whose cases numbered in the millions at 
the time the Carter Center was beginning its work. Through the first 10 
months of 2024, there were just seven reported cases--an incredible 
legacy for anyone, but just part of President Carter's.
  President Carter is also known for his work with Habitat for Humanity 
to provide affordable housing for those in need. And I do mean his 
work. President Carter didn't just lend his name or image to Habitat. 
He built houses. He nailed it, drilled it. He installed toilets. Well 
into his nineties, you could find him in a hardhat on worksites, 
participating like any other volunteer.
  In one early Habitat project, he and Rosalynn worked in New York 
City. The former First Lady and the former President spent the week 
sleeping in the basement of a church with other volunteers--a 
characteristic example of unpretentiousness from a couple who lived all 
their lives in a modest house in Plains, GA, that they built long 
before the Presidency.
  All told, the Carter Work Project at Habitat for Humanity has worked 
on 4,447 homes in 14 countries, including homes in Eagle Butte, in my 
State of South Dakota, which the Carters worked on during a 1994 trip 
to our State. It is unknown how many more homes have been built by 
volunteers who came to know about Habitat for Humanity through 
President Jimmy Carter.
  It would be wrong to mention Jimmy Carter's years of service without 
mentioning what animated them. Jimmy Carter saw his service as a 
natural outgrowth of his faith in Jesus Christ. ``One of the best ways 
to practice my faith as a Christian,'' he would say, ``is to 
participate in Habitat projects every year.'' His life was about 
putting his religious principles into practice, whether that was 
through Habitat for Humanity or through his other work.
  And, of course, anyone attracted by his example who wanted to learn 
more about the Christian faith could head down to Maranatha Baptist 
Church in Plains, GA, to his Sunday school class, which he taught into 
his nineties.
  Madam President, I cannot close without mentioning Jimmy Carter's 77-
year-long marriage to his beloved wife Rosalynn, who preceded him in 
death a year ago. And while I join all Americans in mourning the death 
of President Carter, I rejoice at the thought that he and Rosalynn are 
again together before the face of their Father.
  My thoughts and prayers are with the Carters' children--Jack, Chip, 
Jeff, and Amy--and with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
  I look forward to paying my respects to this public servant later 
today.
  I yield the floor.
  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. THUNE. Madam 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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