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Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, one of the drawbacks of the end of a Congress is the need to say goodbye to departing colleagues. We are losing two Republicans this year--Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Braun.

Mitt gave his farewell remarks yesterday, and they were characteristic of the man I have come to know: humble, faith-filled, patriotic. Mitt is what I would call a character guy. He is guided by a moral compass, and he is not afraid to live by it. And in a world where being religious isn't always highly regarded, he is unapologetic about his faith.

Mitt is also a big family guy. Like me, he married up, and he and his wife Ann have shared the good times and the tough times for well now over 50 years of marriage--hard to believe to look at him. But they say children keep you young, and Mitt has 5 sons and an incredible 25 grandchildren--a beautiful legacy all on its own.

Mitt's professional legacy needs no recounting. He is well known as a successful businessman, a successful Republican Governor of a deep-blue State, and most recently as a successful Senator. He may be leaving us after just one term, but that term was filled with an outsized amount of work, and he has more than earned his retirement.

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