Mr. President, before my Republican colleagues leave the floor, I want to repeat what I said this morning when the Senate opened--the only person here was Senator McConnell--and that is what the…
Mr. President, before my Republican colleagues leave the floor, I want to repeat what I said this morning when the Senate opened--the only person here was Senator McConnell--and that is what the Republicans have done during the illness of Senator Johnson has been exemplary. There have been occasions when, for partisan advantage, the minority could have taken advantage of the majority as a result of Tim being incapacitated. That was never done, even though there were opportunities to do that. As I said this morning, I personally appreciate that. I know the Johnson family does. More importantly, Mr. President, the American people do. This is the Senate, and I will always remember during the past 8 months as we have waited for Tim to return how--I repeat--the Republicans never once tried to take advantage of his illness. Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
Mr. President, Tim Johnson is a fourth generation South Dakotan. I want to underline the fact that John Thune and Tim Johnson remind me of Harry Reid and John Ensign, because we too had a very difficult race for the Senate, and it ended up very similar to the Thune-Johnson race. But we have set those differences aside and now are friends. Above all, I say to my friend John Thune, I admire and appreciate what you have done in helping Tim in his absence and for being the person who would not allow anything to be done that would in any way harm Tim Johnson on a partisan basis. Thank you very much, John.
I have learned a lot about Tim Johnson in the past 8 months. I know he went to school at the University of South Dakota, that it is there he met Barbara, his wife. It is in a town called Vermillion that he started his law practice, and it is there that he saw success in the legal field. He served 4 years, starting in 1982, in the House of Representatives in the State of South Dakota. He has received many awards: Outstanding Citizen of the State of South Dakota, first recipient of the Billy Sutton Award for legislative achievement. He was elected to the House in 1986. During that year he was responsible for passing more legislation than any of the other 50 first-term Members.
He has now been in the Senate doing outstanding work. I noticed on his resume, of course, he listed the Appropriations Committee, the Budget Committee, the Banking Committee, the Energy Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee, but he left off the Ethics Committee. He was chosen on that committee to be the chair of that committee, because he is the example of an ethical, honest legislator and person.
Tim and Barbara still have their home in Vermilion, but I have gotten to know that family so well. Brooks served and is serving in the U.S. Army, having been a combat veteran in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He is now an Army recruiter. Brendan is a lawyer and has a law practice and is doing excellent work. Kelsey and I--during her father's illness--spent lots of time together, especially waiting for her brothers to come. It took a couple of days for them to get here from around the country, as air travel out of South Dakota is not that easy.
As you proceed through life, you find people that you have such admiration for. Of course, we all admire Tim. But there is a person in this Chamber--and I know the Senate rules. We are not to refer to people in this Chamber, but I hope people will forgive me today in recognizing someone I will never forget, and that is his loving wife Barbara.
(Applause, Senators rising.)
I think Barbara and I will never forget--Tim was unconscious at the time--the first night Tim got sick. The reason I mention this is there was a doctor--and I don't want to in any way embarrass Tim or his family, but I think the man deserves recognition. I was asked to be with Barbara, and I was happy to be there with the children coming that first terrible afternoon. Things weren't going well. Barbara recognized it at first that he wasn't doing well. The doctor came and said, We are going to have to relieve the pressure. I am going to have to go into his skull. I said to this doctor, How many times have you done that? He said, Innumerable times. He was not an old man, but he was surrounded by old neurologists and neurosurgeons.
He came back a while later, an hour and a half, maybe, and he said, I am going to have to do an angiogram; I don't know what is going on in his brain. So they put something in to look at his brain. I said, How many times have you done that? He said over a thousand times. Then he comes back about an hour and a half or 2 hours later and tells us they are going to have to operate on Tim. It is going to take a long time, probably about 7 hours. After he worked all of this time, I said to him, Who is going to do this, because he had to be getting tired by then. He looked at Barbara with these piercing eyes, and said, I am going to do it. That is what I do. He said, I am not only a neurosurgeon, I have a subspecialty in the blood supply to the brain. He walked out of that room, and we had so much confidence in his ability that we felt Tim was going to make it. That man's name is Dr. Vivek Deshmukh. I haven't had the opportunity--I wanted to make sure Tim came back here--but some day I am going to be able to express to him on a personal basis how he handled this man's illness. Tim wasn't there, only in spirit, but this doctor deserves recognition, and I hope that is what I do with my little speech here today.
Amidst the daily scuffles that take place here in the Senate, we have the press, but many Americans may not realize we are a family. We sometimes joke about it, but we are, and this proves it. Sometimes people say this Senate family is dysfunctional, and maybe sometimes it is. But despite our quarrels on policy and politics, the 100 men and women who serve in this Chamber have the deepest respect and admiration for each other. We care about each other's health, families, and all the things that go on outside the walls of this Capitol building. I have dear friends, and we all do in this Chamber, but my admiration and respect for Tim Johnson is difficult to calculate.
When he fell ill in December of last year, we were all touched by this unfortunate incident. But as we look at what happened, we have heard this overused term: Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, because Tim Johnson was taken immediately to George Washington Hospital where they have a team of physicians as good as any place in the world to take care of his injury--maybe not of other injuries, not other illnesses, but for this one it is as good as any place in the country. Had it happened the next day, he would have been on an airplane going to South Dakota. Had it happened the next day, he would have been on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. So maybe, maybe his misfortune was a blessing. Maybe it was a blessing.
We all prayed for him. We all hoped for his recovery. We couldn't watch his recovery because he was away from us most of the time. We all prayed for his recovery with hope for his strength. Tim's wonderful wife Barbara, whom I have already mentioned, said last month:
I have learned a lot about Tim Johnson during the last
months. I have learned that he is extremely determined. How
he has gotten through this and maintained an even balance I
will never understand. His sense of humor and just the: OK, I
know what I have to do, I am going to go ahead and do it, and
he does it.
So these past months, with humor and determination that Barbara mentioned, we all in the Senate now know what she is talking about.
Tim, I am so glad you are back. I am so happy that your mind is 100 percent. We have all been told your speech shortly will be 100 percent, and you should know it is 95 percent right now. We throw words around like we are happy to have you back, but I have to say in front of the whole world, Tim, we love you. I love you.
(Applause, Senators rising.)
