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Floor Speech
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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, it is with a combination of pride and sadness that I rise to pay tribute to a truly extraordinary Senator and a good friend, Senator Mitt Romney.
I rise to praise his intelligence, his imagination, and most of all his integrity. That is what has marked and characterized his service throughout his life but particularly here in the Senate. It is a day of sadness because I can't imagine the Senate without Mitt Romney.
As a Senator and as a Governor, as a Presidential candidate, as the founder of a successful business, as the savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics, and as a pillar of his faith, Mitt Romney has brought intelligence, knowledge, experience, and, once again, integrity to every task he has undertaken. He meets every challenge with determination and a talent for bringing opposing sides together to forge solutions. He is always focused on getting to yes, on using common sense, and on achieving a result.
I have had the pleasure of teaming up with Mitt on so many important issues, many of which he has mentioned. He was among the group of 10 Senators who negotiated the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. From transportation to broadband, the most significant investment in infrastructure since the interstate highway system in the 1950s is bringing lasting benefits to our Nation.
Mitt was also key in crafting the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act-- landmark, commonsense gun safety legislation that helps to protect America's children, keep our schools safer, and reduce the threat of violence across our country, while preserving the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners.
Mitt's unshakable belief that the American people must have faith in our elections and that they are free and fair was evident in his countless contributions to the Electoral Count Reform Act, which ensures an orderly transition of Presidential power.
Perhaps most impressive, his support for the Respect for Marriage Act demonstrated his fundamental fairness by helping to ensure that millions of loving couples in same-sex marriages will continue to enjoy the freedoms, rights, and responsibilities afforded to all other marriages, while strongly protecting religious liberty. And I give Mitt so much credit for forging the religious liberty protections that, combined with the protections for same-sex marriages, enabled the enactment of the Respect for Marriage Act. He was the one who drafted the religious liberty provisions that were so key.
There are other areas where Mitt has been a key player and ahead of his time. From identifying the threat posed by Russia more than a decade ago to pushing Congress and the administration to develop a strategy to better counter the challenge presented by China, Mitt has worked extensively on American foreign policy and national security. He has been a champion for Ukraine and a strong supporter of supplying aid to that brave country in its time of peril.
Most of all, Mitt has reminded us over and over again of our $36 trillion national debt and the need to put our trust funds on solid ground. In fact, I think that a great post-Senate responsibility that Mitt could take on is a commission to look at all of those trust funds. He has proposed legislation to do just that. I can't think of a better person to head that commission.
Mitt announced his decision to step down from the Senate with these words:
While I'm not running for reelection, I'm not retiring from the fight.
As he and his wonderful wife Ann move on to this next phase of their lives, I am sure that this outstanding leader will continue to fight for the core values that have made America great.
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