[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17951-17952]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              FDA FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT--Continued

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a 
time for debate only for a period of 20 minutes, with Senator Brownback 
being recognized for a period of up to 10 minutes and that I be 
recognized when he completes his statement.
  For the benefit of all Members, Senator McConnell and I are trying to 
work through some procedural issues we have here to give more 
definition to what we are doing. We are trying to work something out on 
food safety and on the Lew nomination. We don't have that done yet, but 
we have made progress. So we hope everyone will be patient and stay 
around so they will know what we are going to wind up doing. It is a 
delicate time here. Everyone has to be calm and cool. We have a lot to 
do in the next few weeks and we would like to be able to expedite some 
of this tonight.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Kansas.


                         Farewell to the Senate

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I thank the majority leader for setting 
up this period of time. This will be my last speech, probably, to the 
body. It is a speech I wish to give in talking about leaving the Senate 
of the United States.
  I was just elected to be Governor of Kansas, and I am very excited 
about that post. I have served here a period of 14 years, which has 
been a wonderful chance to be able to serve the people of Kansas--the 
people of the United States. I love this body and I love this country.
  A lot of folks, when they leave, talk about partisanship and the 
bickering. I like to think about the beauty of the country and the 
ability to come together because it does happen. The predecessor of the 
person sitting in the Presiding Officer's seat and I worked on one of 
the flagship pieces of legislation on human rights protection. It was 
on human trafficking, the initial bill. That was with Senator Paul 
Wellstone, who was from Minnesota. He was a delightful individual. It 
was a great chance for us to work together on something, and we 
couldn't have been further apart. I think he was ranked the second most 
liberal Member of the Senate. He aspired to be No. 1, but he was 
second. But he was a delightful man and he dealt from the heart and we 
got things done.
  I say that because I think that is how we work in this place; that we 
fight on about 20 percent of the issues--and they are important, big 
issues--and then we cooperate and work together on a whole host of 
broad bipartisan issues, such as dealing with things like human 
trafficking. You do that primarily with people who deal from the 
heart--people such as Paul Wellstone, Ted Kennedy, and Jesse Helms. 
There are a lot of others, and many people get many things done in this 
body, but I think it is best when people deal from the heart. When they 
do that, then there is a chance for us to come together around key and 
heartfelt things. This has been a great body to serve in and I have 
delighted in being able to do that.
  There is much to be done, much to be done for the country. We have to 
deal with the creation of jobs in America. We have to deal with our 
debt and our deficit. We have many issues to deal with. My hope for 
here, and my hope for our country, is that we go back to the virtues of 
the ``greatest generation'' and look to them for ways to move forward. 
It is looking back at the old path of what worked in tough times and 
moving it forward on the new path.
  I came into this seat after Bob Dole served in this body. He served 
in this seat. Senator Dole from Kansas is the iconic figure of the 
World War II generation, of that ``greatest generation.'' He just got 
out of Walter Reed Hospital. He has been very sick and ill this year. 
He is coming back, recuperating. I think he is 87 years old this year.
  Most everybody in America would agree about the ``greatest 
generation.'' They would say that World War II generation hit the mark 
of what it is to be an American, what it is to sacrifice, what it is to 
fight for a good cause. They did it with a set of virtues that are 
timeless, that are known, and I think we have to emulate this time for 
us to deal with the problems we have now. They were courageous; they 
were selfless; they were courteous; they were people who would fight 
for a

[[Page 17952]]

cause. They were the ones who exhibited charity, thrift. That was 
certainly known in that generation. I think these are things we have to 
bring back--hard work, compassion.
  It seems to me, when I think of that generation--and nobody is 
perfect and that generation is not perfect--those are ideals I saw in 
practice, whether it was them on the battlefield in World War II or if 
it was them raising their families at home or if it was their educating 
of their families, if it was saving for future generations; that is 
what they did.
  I don't know, if you ask people of that generation, did you do this 
on purpose, they might say we did or didn't. Most of them would say 
this was the right thing to do and it is the thing we needed to do. I 
think it is what we need to do now. I think we need to emulate those 
virtues of the ``greatest generation'' and apply them to our problems.
  Their problems were more foreign than ours. Ours I believe are more 
domestic, dealing with our own debt and deficit as a country and as a 
society and as individuals and individual households; us creating and 
saving for that next generation in the country and investing to do 
that, and being selfless and sacrificial in doing that. Building family 
structure and doing that which is for the good of our families is what 
we need to do, and that virtue and that old, ancient path they 
followed, that they said we did because it was a thing we needed to do, 
I think we have to do the same thing. I hope we will as a country.
  There has been a debate that started in America that I do not agree 
with, and it is whether this is a special country and whether America 
is an exceptional land. I for one fully embrace the notion that this is 
a special place. I believe in American exceptionalism and I have been 
in many places over the world where you see this in action. I have been 
in many places in America where you see this in action, where somebody 
selflessly takes care of other individuals.
  Last night I was at the Korean Embassy and we were talking about what 
is taking place in North Korea, and one of the people working there at 
the South Korean Embassy was amazed that people in the United States 
would care what happens to people in North Korea. I said one of the 
people with me was saying that is how we look at the world. If somebody 
else is in bondage, if somebody else is in difficulty, we feel that and 
we want to help to deal with it. That, to me, is part of what American 
exceptionalism is all about.
  This is a special place and has a special calling. If it is not us 
doing it, in many cases around the world it does not get done. I have 
been in the Sudan and they are not calling on the Chinese to lead Sudan 
into a freer time period. I have been in other places--in Africa, on 
the North Korean border. If you are looking for somebody to solve the 
problem, it is the Americans who go in and do it.
  Our task now is to not only do that around the world, but it is to do 
it domestically. I think we have to look more and more at ourselves and 
say we are a special place and I think we have to look at ourselves as 
the baby boomer generation that I am a part of and say you have to 
prove and earn your exceptionalism. I think we have to step up to the 
mark as the ``greatest generation'' did and be willing to serve in a 
tough way, in a sacrificial way, in the best interests of the future of 
our country. We have to do it and now is the time to do it.
  I am appreciative that the President had a deficit task force he 
appointed and that they came up with some ideas, with some of which I 
agree, with some of which I disagree. But I am glad they started the 
discussion and the debate. If the figures I have seen are accurate, 
half the American households receive an entitlement check from the 
Federal Government--half of the American households. We have a deficit 
and debt that is structural. It is not based upon one-time war funding, 
although war funding has contributed to it, but it is structural in 
that we have more going out than we have coming in. It is time this is 
dealt with. I think that is part of the message from this last election 
cycle. The American people are ready to have an intelligent discussion, 
a difficult discussion of what we are going to do to be able to save 
ourselves fiscally. Now is the time to do it.
  We actually have the structure set up to do it. With a Republican 
House, Democratic Senate, Democratic Presidency. This would be the time 
and the structure to talk about this sort of difficult issue. Our 
generation should step up and deal with it. I am not going to be here 
for that discussion and debate, but it is time we have it and it is 
time we bring back these timeless virtues to deal with our domestic 
problems the way we have dealt with international problems in the 
``greatest generation.''
  As I leave this body, one of the rites of passage is to sign your 
desk, and I just did that. I did it in pencil. I figure that all of us 
will fade with time and that signature will fade with time as well. But 
the things you remember are what you touched and that touched you and 
the souls that are touched. It is people who deal from the heart who 
are the ones who touch your life and the ones who touch your soul. I 
want to express my deep appreciation to my colleagues who have touched 
my heart. I hope I have been a positive statement to many of them.
  The psalm that comes to mind is one that says: ``And his place knew 
him no more.''
  The psalmist wrote: ``His place knew him no more.'' After a period of 
time you sign the desk, you move on, and then you look back and see the 
signatures in the desk and you don't recognize many of them. The place 
will know us no more. But the hearts that we touch, the hearts that 
touch ours, we will remember forever, and I certainly will.
  I thank you and my colleagues in the Senate for letting me serve with 
you. It has been a great joy. It is a fabulous nation, the greatest 
Nation on the face of the Earth, and it was an honor to serve here.
  God bless America.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. 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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