E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 117 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 167 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2021 No. 33 Senate The Senate met at 3 p.m. and was Senate, I hereby appoint the Honorable diminution of zeal for your future in- called to order by the Honorable MAZIE MAZIE K. HIRONO, a Senator from the terest, no deficiency of grateful respect K. HIRONO, a Senator from the State of State of Hawaii, to perform the duties for your past kindness, but am sup- Hawaii. of the Chair. ported by a full conviction that the f PATRICK J. LEAHY, step is compatible with both. President pro tempore The acceptance of, and continuance PRAYER Ms. HIRONO thereupon assumed the hitherto in, the office to which your The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- Chair as Acting President pro tempore. suffrages have twice called me have fered the following prayer: f been a uniform sacrifice of inclination Let us pray. to the opinion of duty and to a def- Eternal God, as we cross the grim RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME erence for what appeared to be your de- milestone of 500,000 lives lost to the The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- sire. I constantly hoped that it would coronavirus, we continue to look to pore. Under the previous order, the have been much earlier in my power, You for strength, guidance, and wis- leadership time is reserved. consistently with motives which I was dom. not at liberty to disregard, to return to Lord, use our Senators to bring heal- f that retirement from which I had been ing to our Nation and world. Give them READING OF WASHINGTON’S reluctantly drawn. The strength of my the creativity and wisdom needed to do FAREWELL ADDRESS what is best to end this global pes- inclination to do this, previous to the The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- tilence. Inspire them to permit their last election, had even led to the prepa- pore. thoughts, words, and actions to please ration of an address to declare it to Pursuant to the order of the Senate You. May they receive the smile of you; but mature reflection on the then of January 24, 1901, as amended by the Heaven’s approval because of their perplexed and critical posture of our order of February 6, 2019, the Senator faithfulness. affairs with foreign nations, and the And, Lord, we thank You for the life from Ohio, Mr. PORTMAN, will now read unanimous advice of persons entitled of our first President of the United Washington’s Farewell Address. to my confidence, impelled me to aban- States, George Washington. Mr. PORTMAN, at the rostrum, read don the idea. We pray in Your marvelous Name. the Farewell Address, as follows: I rejoice that the state of your con- Amen. To the people of the United States: cerns, external as well as internal, no f FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: The longer renders the pursuit of inclina- period for a new election of a citizen to tion incompatible with the sentiment PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE administer the executive government of duty or propriety and am persuaded, The Presiding Officer led the Pledge of the United States being not far dis- whatever partiality may be retained of Allegiance, as follows: tant, and the time actually arrived for my services, that in the present cir- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the when your thoughts must be employed cumstances of our country you will not United States of America, and to the Repub- in designating the person who is to be disapprove my determination to retire. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, clothed with that important trust, it The impressions with which I first indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. appears to me proper, especially as it undertook the arduous trust were ex- f may conduce to a more distinct expres- plained on the proper occasion. In the APPOINTMENT OF ACTING sion of the public voice, that I should discharge of this trust, I will only say PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE now apprise you of the resolution I that I have, with good intentions, con- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The have formed, to decline being consid- tributed towards the organization and clerk will please read a communication ered among the number of those out of administration of the government the to the Senate from the President pro whom a choice is to be made. best exertions of which a very fallible I beg you at the same time to do me judgment was capable. Not unconscious tempore (Mr. LEAHY). The bill clerk read the following let- the justice to be assured that this reso- in the outset of the inferiority of my ter: lution has not been taken without a qualifications, experience in my own strict regard to all the considerations eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of U.S. SENATE, PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, appertaining to the relation which others, has strengthened the motives Washington, DC, February 22, 2021. binds a dutiful citizen to his country— to diffidence of myself, and every day To the Senate: and that, in withdrawing the tender of the increasing weight of years admon- Under the provisions of rule I, para- service which silence in my situation ishes me more and more that the shade graph 3, of the Standing Rules of the might imply, I am influenced by no of retirement is as necessary to me as ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S751 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A22FE6.000 S22FEPT1 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE S752 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 22, 2021 it will be welcome. Satisfied that if recommendation of mine is necessary the North, it finds its particular navi- any circumstances have given peculiar to fortify or confirm the attachment. gation invigorated; and while it con- value to my services, they were tem- The unity of government which con- tributes, in different ways, to nourish porary, I have the consolation to be- stitutes you one people is also now and increase the general mass of the lieve that, while choice and prudence dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a national navigation, it looks forward invite me to quit the political scene, main pillar in the edifice of your real to the protection of a maritime patriotism does not forbid it. independence, the support of your tran- strength to which itself is unequally In looking forward to the moment quility at home, your peace abroad, of adapted. The East, in a like intercourse which is intended to terminate the ca- your safety, of your prosperity, of that with the West, already finds, and in the reer of my public life, my feelings do very liberty which you so highly prize. progressive improvement of interior not permit me to suspend the deep ac- But as it is easy to foresee that, from communications by land and water will knowledgment of that debt of gratitude different causes and from different more and more find a valuable vent for which I owe to my beloved country for quarters, much pains will be taken, the commodities which it brings from the many honors it has conferred upon many artifices employed, to weaken in abroad or manufactures at home. The me, still more for the steadfast con- your minds the conviction of this West derives from the East supplies req- fidence with which it has supported me truth; as this is the point in your polit- uisite to its growth and comfort—and and for the opportunities I have thence ical fortress against which the bat- what is perhaps of still greater con- enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable teries of internal and external enemies sequence, it must of necessity owe the attachment by services faithful and will be most constantly and actively secure enjoyment of indispensable out- persevering, though in usefulness un- (though often covertly and insidiously) lets for its own productions to the equal to my zeal. If benefits have re- directed, it is of infinite moment that weight, influence, and the future mari- sulted to our country from these serv- you should properly estimate the im- time strength of the Atlantic side of ices, let it always be remembered to mense value of your national Union to the Union, directed by an indissoluble your praise and as an instructive exam- your collective and individual happi- community of interest as one nation. ple in our annals that, under cir- ness; that you should cherish a cordial, Any other tenure by which the West cumstances in which the passions agi- habitual, and immovable attachment can hold this essential advantage, tated in every direction were liable to to it; accustoming yourselves to think whether derived from its own separate mislead, amidst appearances some- and speak of it as of the palladium of strength or from an apostate and un- times dubious, vicissitudes of fortune your political safety and prosperity; natural connection with any foreign often discouraging, in situations in power, must be intrinsically precar- which not unfrequently want of success watching for its preservation with jeal- ous anxiety; discountenancing what- ious. has countenanced the spirit of criti- While then every part of our country cism, the constancy of your support ever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and thus feels an immediate and particular was the essential prop of the efforts interest in union, all the parts com- and a guarantee of the plans by which indignantly frowning upon the first bined cannot fail to find in the united they were effected.