Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 115 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 115 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 164 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2018 No. 191 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Thursday, December 6, 2018, at 12 p.m. Senate TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2018 The Senate met at 2:30 p.m. and was MORNING BUSINESS also my mentor. I was very blessed called to order by the President pro The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under early in my career to have been able to tempore (Mr. HATCH). the previous order, the Senate is in a work for him. He brought me into his White House when I was a young man f period of morning business, with Sen- ators permitted to speak therein for up trying to figure out my way in life. I PRAYER to 10 minutes each for debate only. would not be in this crazy business of politics but for him—not just because The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- The Senator from Ohio. he gave me opportunities to work for fered the following prayer: f him but because he showed me you Let us pray. REMEMBERING GEORGE H.W. BUSH could do this work of public service and Almighty God, who has given us this politics with honor and dignity and re- good land for our heritage, help us to Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, today spect. be grateful for Your favor and eager to I want to talk about the loss of a great do Your will. Bless our citizens with American. I want to talk about George He showed that nice guys can finish honorable work, sound learning, exem- H.W. Bush. On C–SPAN, I was watching first. He showed that his approach— plary conduct, and faithful service. the coverage of what is going on in the kinder and gentler, as he would call it Keep our Senators true to You. Use Rotunda now, and there are hundreds in 1988—was something that indeed you them to defend our liberties and to of people crowded around his casket, could achieve here, even in the Halls of unify our Nation for the good of hu- paying tribute to this great man. They Congress. manity. have been there all day. They will be I have a special reason to be so grate- Lord, give our lawmakers the spirit there all night. Friends of mine from ful; also, so sad about his departure be- of wisdom that they may work for jus- Ohio are in town who never met him cause I relied on him for advice and tice, as they strive to approve what is but knew of him and were inspired by counsel. He rarely gave it proactively, excellent. Inspire them to glorify You him. We were all inspired by him. but when asked, he always had the wis- in all they think, say, and do. George Bush did it all. He was a war dom of years and the judgment that so We pray in Your merciful Name. hero—youngest naval pilot at age 18, many of us will miss so badly. Amen. shot down over the Pacific. He was the last President, by the way, to serve in He took a chance on me as a young f combat. He was also a Member of the lawyer from Cincinnati, OH, to come into his White House as his Associate PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE U.S. Congress and proud of that. Prior to that, he was a successful business Counsel to the President. He then took The President pro tempore led the leader in Texas. He was an ambassador a chance on me to join his legislative Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: to the United Nations. He was CIA Di- affairs team, to be Director of the I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the rector. He was Envoy to China—the White House Office of Legislative Af- United States of America, and to the Repub- first one. He was Vice President of the fairs. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, United States, and he was President, of To be frank, I was not particularly indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. course, during one of the most momen- qualified for either job. I had only f tous times in our Nation’s history. worked on the Hill briefly as an intern. What a life. I was not nearly as distinguished as the RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME In his absence, our country is losing other members of the legal team who The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. a lifelong patriot, a guiding voice, and had been mostly Supreme Court clerks, HOEVEN). Under the previous order, the the embodiment of the very best of but it made me work all the harder to leadership time is reserved. America. For me, President Bush was try to earn his trust and his respect. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S7259 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Dec 05, 2018 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A04DE6.000 S04DEPT1 dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with SENATE S7260 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 4, 2018 He didn’t just give me a job. He the idea of naming the CIA after him tion, so he handled the fall of the wall taught me about being a leader, a pub- and proposed legislation to do that in and, more importantly, the transition lic servant, being a better husband and 1999. Today, that headquarters has been in Eastern Europe and Central Europe, father. He showed me what servant renamed under that legislation the again, with diplomacy and with respect leadership meant, what it looked like George Bush Center for Intelligence. for Gorbachev and the people—the mil- in practice, and I try to work every day I remember being at the ceremony lions of people who were affected. to live up to that example. He was one with him when the name was changed Of all the major events in which he of the most decent and honorable peo- and just the love and respect he had played a role as Commander in Chief, I ple I have ever met—in politics or oth- from the people at that Agency. I re- think that, in some respects, was the erwise. He saw himself as a servant. member him telling stories, including most important one. If you go to East- That is what motivated him. He saw stories about why he took the job and ern Europe or Western Europe today or himself as a public servant when he how much he respected the people Central Europe, all of them have a signed up to become a young Navy there and the work they did and how, positive view of George Bush in the pilot, flying dangerous bombing mis- in many respects, they were on the role he played and America played dur- sions. That sense of service, duty, and frontlines for all of us. ing that time period. patriotism was why, years later, after I remember stories being told about Maybe the most well-known role he a successful business career, he decided him, including one I will never forget, played as Commander in Chief was to put it on the line, run for the U.S. which is that Directors for years had Desert Storm. There, he showcased his Congress. gone into the CIA and then taken their abilities not just as a President but as By the way, I have noticed this week own private elevator up to their office, a President who had served in combat there has been a lot of discussion about which makes sense. It is a big job. himself. He understood the need to all of his successes, and there are so George Bush wouldn’t take that pri- bring people together—in this case, many. One thing people might forget is vate elevator. He insisted on going on other countries—to ensure a successful that he was also resilient. He had set- the employee elevator every morning. result. Think about this. Over 40 coun- backs in his life—certainly the death of Why? As he said to me later: Because I tries were involved in Desert Storm— his beloved daughter Robin at a young wanted to hear what was going on, hear and hundreds of thousands of troops— age of 3—but he ran for the Senate from the employees, hear from the offi- all to stop the aggression of Saddam twice in the State of Texas and lost. He cers. Hussein in the Middle East. He knew didn’t give up. He bounced back. He I think it was more than that. I Saddam Hussein had to be stopped. It was resilient. He was tough. think it was because he wanted them was within his moral fiber that he When he was asked to serve as U.N. to know he was part of the team. That couldn’t sit back and watch one coun- Ambassador, he took up that task be- was his approach to everything he try move into a smaller country and cause of his devotion to service. When did—vintage George Bush. He did it take over—in this case, the country of he was asked to chair the Republican with grace and dignity, bringing people Kuwait. So he knew there had to be a National Committee—during a particu- together, working in a bipartisan man- decision by America to lead this in- larly tough time for the Republican ner, and stood for what he thought was credible coalition of countries all Party, not a task most people wanted right but understood that other people around the Middle East and the world.