[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 20328]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO JIM McCOOL

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, we are busy about lots of things, but 
there is one thing that you should never be too busy to do, and that is 
to pause and stop and say thank you--thank you to someone or some 
entity or some institution that has made a difference in your life or 
in the life of your country.
  I don't often come down here on points of personal privilege. I do 
it, but I don't often do it. When I do do it, it is special for me, and 
I hope it is special for the people I am talking about.
  A good friend of mine is retiring from the Southern Company in the 
next few months. His name is Jim McCool.
  Now, most of you probably don't know Jim McCool. Jim is one of those 
people who some people refer to as a lobbyist and others refer to as a 
professional advocate. I refer to him as my good friend. I met him in 
the 1980s. He had started his own formal wear business. He then sold 
that business and went to work for Mississippi Power. It was later one 
of the Southern Company's companies. He then worked as a liaison to 
Washington for the Southern Company, for Georgia Power, for Mississippi 
Power, and for Alabama Power.
  I got to know Jim in lots of ways. First of all, it was when I was in 
the Georgia State Senate and the Georgia State House. On the industry 
committee, we worked on issues that dealt with electric utilities. I 
didn't know anything about those, as I was a real estate broker. My 
knowledge of electricity was that when I threw that switch, I wanted it 
to come on. Once it got beyond that, I didn't have knowledge of it.
  Jim was one of those people who didn't just come and say: This is my 
company's position. We want you to do it. He asked: What is it about my 
company's position that I can help explain for you to make a decision? 
He never, ever asked me to do anything for him or anyone. He always 
offered to give me the information that I needed to make the decision 
myself. That is not a rarity in that profession, but it is certainly 
something that the average person doesn't think of when you hear of a 
lobbyist or a professional advocate.
  Jim McCool is, has been, and, for me, always will be very special. He 
takes his job seriously, his company seriously, and his country 
seriously. Jim and his wife, Kathy, raised three great sons. They are 
proud of their dad, and he is proud of them. I have seen him in enough 
situations with his family to know that his family comes first for Jim 
McCool. Golf, unlike what most people think, is not first. It is only 
second. The Southern Company is third. I have played a lot of golf with 
Jim McCool, and that is why I put that in there.
  Over the years, I have worked with Jim on many, many projects. Right 
now, we are working on a nuclear production tax credit, in addition to 
the tax extenders bill, which, hopefully, will pass the Congress within 
the next 2 weeks, after January 1, to continue the construction and the 
completion of units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle in Georgia. For me, 
ironically, this was such a special moment because I had worked on 
Vogtle units 1 and 2 when they were built in the early 1980s and when 
Jim was an advocate, at that time, for Mississippi Power. He later 
joined the Southern Company team.
  Jim and I have watched Plant Vogtle go from a dream and an aspiration 
for the Southern Company to a reality in terms of units 1 and 2. If we 
get our work done here soon, units 3 and 4 will be online. For a long 
time after Jim McCool is gone and I am gone and all of you are gone, 
Georgia will have reliable, safe energy from a renewable source called 
nuclear, and we will continue to be a pioneer and a leader in the 
southern United States.
  When I heard that Jim was retiring, obviously, I knew it was a 
special moment for him and his family. I wish him all the best, and I 
know that he is going to do great. I started thinking back over all of 
those times that we had worked on all of those issues that had such an 
impact on his job and his employer and, for me, on my State and his 
State. Jim never wavered in his commitment to doing the best job he 
could possibly do in always representing the best interests of his 
company while never losing the best interests of those who were served 
by his company--the customers.
  On this day today, when the President of the United States signs 
major, sweeping tax reform and as we approach Christmas--a special 
holiday for all families--I rise on the floor of the Senate to take 
note of Jim McCool from the State of Mississippi, employee of the 
Southern Company, professional advocate, father of three, and husband 
to a great lady. Jim McCool has gone the long way down the long road, 
and he has done it with style, with class, and he has delivered every 
single time.
  Washington doesn't have a better advocate working in this town than 
Jim McCool. We are going to miss him, but I am going to get to play a 
lot more golf with him in the years ahead because he is going to have 
more free time than he has right now. So I wish Jim and his family the 
best. I thank him for all he has done for us as Georgians.
  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. GARDNER. 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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