Remembering Lindsey Graham

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to honor my good friend and
colleague Lindsey Graham.
  Our colleague from South Carolina led an impactful life. He leaves an
impressive legacy, and he left all of us important lessons for life.
  The great cause to which Lindsey Graham devoted his life was the
United States of America. That is what it was from day one all the way
to the end. Lindsey Graham loved America. He believed that our Nation
is exceptional, as do so many of us. He believed our Nation was worth
fighting for. He believed especially in the American people. He fought
for the people of his home State of South Carolina and the people of
this great country every single day, and he did it with determination.
He always believed that America was a nation that he needed to fight
for every day to make us safer and stronger.
  His life was shaped early on by duty and by love. Tragedy came early.
At the age of 21, he lost both of his parents within 15 months. At the
time, he began raising his 13-year-old sister Darline. He made sure
that she stayed

in school and went on to continue her education in college. He was with
her all the way. He later adopted her.
  Lindsey once said that he was most proud of the woman that Darline
had become. Now Darline is going to fill her brother's seat right here
in the U.S. Senate, and there is nobody better to carry on Lindsey's
legacy than his beloved sister.
  Lindsey was a strong advocate for our military. He joined the Air
Force right out of law school, and he served our Nation, in uniform,
for 33 years. He remained in the Reserves even while serving in
Congress. One year, over New Year's, Lindsey was serving in
Afghanistan. I went and met him there, and we went and visited with the
troops from my home State of Wyoming and with his troops from South
Carolina. He never let anyone forget how proud he was of our
servicemembers and of our country.
  Lindsey's dad ran a bar in South Carolina. Lindsey talked about it
often. He used to say it was good training for his life in politics.
Lindsey told me that one of the key lessons he learned from his father
was this: The key to being a successful bar owner in South Carolina--
probably or anywhere--is you have to be funny enough that people will
keep coming back, and you have to be tough enough so people won't take
over your business.
  That was Lindsey Graham. He was the funniest man in the U.S. Senate.
His humor was like Super Glue. It brought people together. It kept them
together.
  Lindsey and I traveled the world, often to war zones, and when you
traveled with Lindsey, you visited a lot of tough places around the
world. We visited Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine. We traveled to show our
support for the men and women of our military. Lindsey and I got to
know each other on those long trips, and we shared a lot of laughs. I
will never forget how much fun it was with Lindsey to sing the lyrics
of the old television shows, the ones from the fifties, sixties, and
early seventies. Some of his favorites--and he knew all the words--were
``Gilligan's Island,'' ``The Beverly Hillbillies,'' ``The Addams
Family,'' ``Green Acres,'' ``F Troop,'' and, of course, ``Car 54, Where
Are You?''
  We would sing together, we would laugh, and these moments will stay
with me forever. His friendship meant the world to me.
  You know, Lindsey was constantly on the move. He just returned from
Ukraine this past weekend. He was scheduled to be on ``Meet the Press''
on Sunday morning in the studio. I think his favorite three places to
be were at home in South Carolina, on the golf course with President
Trump, and in front of the TV camera for Sunday morning news shows.
  His greatest strength, of course, was his character. In Congress,
people are often divided into show horses and workhorses. Lindsey was
both. He was a show horse and a workhorse, and he was the best at both.
  As President Trump said on Sunday morning, Lindsey was uncommonly
hard-working, energetic, and steadfast. When Lindsey believed in
something, he fought for it, and no one was more effective. The
American people remember his stirring defense of now-Justice Brett
Kavanaugh. It was an incredible moment, and his words changed the
course of history.
  Lindsey was a true conservative, and he also believed in working
across the aisle. He wanted to tackle our Nation's most pressing
challenges, and he knew in many ways you had to do that in a bipartisan
way. He believed in the Reagan approach: If you can't get the whole
loaf at once, take it a slice at a time. That is how the Senate is
supposed to work.
  Lindsey chaired some of the most powerful committees in this Chamber.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he led the second
fastest confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice of all times--Amy Coney
Barrett.
  When this Congress began in 2025, he became the chairman of the
Senate Budget Committee. He made clear that he would carry out the
agenda that the American people had just voted for in November of 2024.
He guided the Senate through some of the toughest battles we have ever
had. The Working Families Tax Cut law and the Secure America Act are a
direct result of Lindsey Graham's leadership.
  As whip, my job is to count the votes, and I could always count on
Lindsey to help when the votes were close. The Senate has taken 135
votes on hostile amendments from the Democrats in the last year and a
half. They were trying to undermine the Republican agenda. Thanks to
Lindsey's persistence and his help, we did not lose a single one.
  Lindsey truly was a force of nature here in the Senate. From the
cloakroom to the committee room, to the campaign trail, he brimmed with
ideas and with energy. That is what makes his passing and the timing of
it so tragic. He was at the peak of his influence and impact. He still
had so much more to do and to give.
  The U.S. Senate will never see anyone quite like Lindsey Graham
again. He was a happy warrior, he always put service before himself,
and he believed in the Senate as an institution. He continued to shape
it throughout his successful and significant career. He helped make
America stronger and safer.
  I join the entire Senate and his friends and his family in mourning
the loss of our dear friend Lindsey Graham.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                       Remembering Lindsey Graham

  Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, Lindsey Graham was a self-made American
original. Born in Central, SC, Lindsey grew up in a room behind his
parents' bar and pool hall, where he worked to help the family make
ends meet and earned the nickname ``Stinkball'' from its patrons
because of his sense of humor and his irrepressible nature and his
rascal streak, as he called it.
  I saw that in my first experience with Lindsey Graham. I traveled
with him and Senator McCain to the Munich Security Conference in 2013
as a brandnew Congressman. That evening, as I was meeting some of the
other Senators on the delegation--Senator Ayotte and Senator Corker--
Lindsey came up to me and slapped me on the back and asked me who the
hell I was. I introduced myself, and I told him a little bit about my
story, my service in the Army before I was elected to the House. He
told me I was great; I needed to run for the Senate; we had to win the
Senate seat in Arkansas.
  The next morning, we had a 08 briefing with General Breedlove, then
the commander of our forces in Europe, and Lindsey stumbled in at about
8:55. Senator McCain hailed the arrival of his illegitimate son, and
then we had a coffee break 5 minutes later, when Lindsey came over,
slapped me on the back, and said: You were great. We have got to have
you run for Senate. Now, what was your name again?
  That was Lindsey, self-described rascal that he was. I often joked
about it--and with him. You never knew quite what Lindsey was up to,
but it probably wasn't nothing.
  He became the first member of his family to attend college. After
suddenly and unexpectedly losing both parents while attending the
University of South Carolina, he stepped in to raise his beloved
younger sister Darline. But even in the face of tragedy, Lindsey's
grit, determination, and faith enabled him to finish college, earn a
law degree, serve in the Air Force, and eventually make his way here to
the U.S. Congress.
  When Lindsey arrived in the House in 1995 as the first Republican
Congressman from South Carolina's Third Congressional District since
1877, he brought with him a sense of duty and responsibility, a love
for liberty, and a resolute commitment to America's national security.
  He carried this with him to the Senate, where he served for more than
two decades and became the first person in South Carolina history to
earn more than 1 million votes in a general election. Needless to say,
South Carolinians loved him, and it is not hard to see why.
  Throughout my time working with Lindsey in the Senate, he fought for
South Carolinians, he defended America's founding principles, and he
supported the men and women of our military.