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Floor Speech

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Mr. COONS. Madam President, I rise to also offer to my thoughts on the career and service, the personality and the values of Senator Rob Portman, one of a number of retiring colleagues whom I will dearly miss.

I was somewhat surprised by the timing of Senator Blunt's farewell address and missed the opportunity to also speak to his departure. They have in common an important shared characteristic: a passion for getting things done, for being a Senator who serves their State and Nation, who works across the aisle and delivers real solutions.

Stop taxing death and disability--that is the first bill that Rob and I got to the President's desk and signed into law. Under the previous administration, it had a very catchy name, and it was a simple solution to a pRoblem most of us had never heard of, which was that if someone who had taken out student loans died and thus was unlikely to repay them and those student loans were discharged as a result of their permanent disability or death, that benefit was taxed, and the tax attached, in the case of one of my constituents, to their parents, to the estate of the deceased child.

When I first talked to Rob about this on the floor, he said: That is a terrible thing; we should stop it. From that simple germ grew a dozen different legislative initiatives.

Before this Congress ends, we will get the reauthorization of the End Wildlife Trafficking Act and the reauthorization of Rob's landmark work in tropical rainforest and coral reef preservation to the President's desk.

We had the chance to travel the world together. We had a remarkable trip, as did Senator Klobuchar, to Ukraine--although I think our trip was just a little bit more comfortable on the train than yours. But it was a memorable opportunity to visit the Ukrainian refugees with their own incredible Embassy staff and to present the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center to President Zelenskyy.

I am also, I must say, grateful for your leadership on the Respect for Marriage Act, which is today going to the President's desk.

It was in August, as we traveled to five countries in Africa, together with our spouses and a great bipartisan group you helped pull together, to look at how human development can be the key to wildlife conservation in countries across the continent where too often there is instability that leads to the loss of biodiversity and to an increase in lawlessness and terrorism, and we found a way to craft together a potential legislative solution that I look forward to carrying in the years ahead.

To Jed, to Will, and to Sally, you have a remarkable dad. To Jane, thank you for being such a delightful, engaging, and supportive partner. My wife Annie and I will deeply miss you and Rob as colleagues here in the Senate, as a legislative partner, and as a personal friend.

God bless you on the next chapter of your life, and we look forward to staying in touch.

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