Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. COONS. Madam President, I rise to speak in thanks and in recognition of my dear friend and colleague, the senior Senator from the great State of Delaware, Tom Carper.

All of us have had a chance to hear his farewell speech, but I get a chance to add just a little bit here on the end.

You know, when folks have said to Senator Carper: What do you plan on doing in retirement at home? He has repeatedly said: I don't plan on retiring.

And this has a history to it. As you know, in the arc of his decades of service in our Senate and in our State, he was our Governor. And he has described himself many times as a ``recovering Governor'' who never really recovered. He never stopped being intimately interested in and engaged in every detail of our community.

And I cannot thank you enough, TC, for your more than five decades of service to our Nation, to our State, to our party, to the world. I have a lot of remarks, and I will try not to use all of them, but I think you are the alltime champion, having been elected 14 times statewide: State treasurer, Congressman, Governor, Senator. You are frugal. I have had the experience of your having made a modest contribution to a very early campaign of mine, and I failed to timely deposit the check, and not long thereafter, you accosted me and said: You never cleared this check. It is in my checkbook.

Everybody knows that you drove a fabulous minivan more than 400,000 miles. And you took that passion for frugality and for reasonableness and for attention to details to being the State treasurer, as you shared with all of us, to restoring our triple A bond rating.

When I first became county executive, nothing was more important than that lesson: Protect your bond rating. And you did a great job as State treasurer.

You also are someone who as Governor had a saying you were very fond of: Figure out what works; do more of that.

Figure out what works; do more of that.

Everybody here knows he makes you say important things twice.

And so as an active member of the National Governors Association, as a mentor to other Governors, as a mentor to young county elected officials, TC did a great job with figuring out what worked well in other States around the country and then applying it both at home and making sure that other Governors had a chance to learn from that around our country.

I can't neglect Senator Carper's remarkable commitment to our Nation's military.

As you saw, of all the people he could have chosen to honor in his farewell speech, his Uncle Bob, his family, service and sacrifice anchors him. Having gone on a naval ROTC scholarship to Ohio State and having served three tours in Vietnam and then for decades in the Navy Reserve, Senator Carper is the last Vietnam veteran to serve in this body. That is a long and proud legacy that stretches from Senators McCain and Kerry to Kerry to Hagel to Harkin.

But Senator Carper, in our State, has done more to fight for the VA, to fight for veterans, to fight for a veterans cemetery, to fight for a veterans home, and to personally engage on Memorial Day with the families of every Delawarean who has fallen in combat in living memory. The decency, the commitment, the passion for those who put their life on the line for our Nation is unmatched in our State's history. And we and our Nation are grateful to you for that.

As the chair of two different committees, HSGAC and EPW, you worked tirelessly to build relationships, even with some of the most famously difficult of our colleagues. I make no reference to a former Senator from Oklahoma. I am just saying, that when you tackled postal issues, many of us wished you all the best. And you put your optimism and your positive spirit to the wheel and made real progress.

Along with Senator Capito, of your native State of West Virginia, you have made amazing things happen, from WRDA to the Inflation Reduction Act to the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Your passion for air quality and for clean air and for making sure that we preserve the blessings of our natural environment will be remembered fittingly by having the Bombay Hook Visitor Center named for you.

We talk in Delaware about something called the Delaware Way, which I really principally learned from how you led as Governor. You cleaned up our party. You worked across the aisle. You balanced the budget. You managed a State of great complexity and importance. But you found it by building personal connections by being kind and respectful to others and by building a remarkable community that served alongside you.

I don't know either where the term ``Carper Town'' came from, but it is an amazing network of alumni that includes people of all different ages and backgrounds, skills, and traditions who have been brought together to join your passion for public service.

When asked at your retirement announcement what you would most miss about being a Senator, TC answered: ``My staff,'' which is a reminder that you have built an incredible community dedicated passionately to service.

When I first got here to the Senate, my senior Senator was the one who literally showed me the ropes. He gave me the combination to the gym. He urged me to go to weekly Prayer Breakfast or Bible study and to learn from codels overseas and from time spent over meals together here in the Senate.

We have been guided by our shared faith, our shared commitment to family, a commitment to bipartisanship, and a deep and abiding love of Amtrak. I will never forget a night where we were stuck for 7 hours in the bracing cold as two power lines shut down the Amtrak line north. Senator Carper remained cheerful, upbeat, and optimistic about the possibility that we would someday get off that train and be warm again. And the Newark Amtrak station is named in his honor, appropriately.

Tom, you are a grounded man. Your childhood dreams for playing for the Detroit Tigers may not have been realized, but you as a native son of West Virginia have made an incredible mark on your adopted, beloved home State of Delaware. You have made a lasting mark: as State treasurer and Governor, as Congressman, and Senator.

I will never forget when as a very, very young man I had just returned from South Africa and a member of my church arranged an opportunity for me to have lunch with you in the House dining room. I was 25. You gave me your undivided attention, your enthusiasm, your passion. You made me feel like the center of the world, and it had an enormous impact on my commitment to service.

And when I ran for county council president--a long-shot bid that I should not have won in a four-way primary--and you were running for the U.S. Senate, an important and difficult race, you didn't just call me once and wish me well; you didn't just send me a $50 check. You agreed to stand beside me at football games, at Wawas, at community picnics, and to introduce me to thousands of Delawareans.

You have given Annie and me a gift we can never repay. I am so grateful for your service, your leadership, and your compassion.

You are anchored in your family.

And, Martha, thank you so much for being an incredible partner, not just to Tom but also to our State, for having been the first lady and for having been someone with an incredible career of accomplishment at DuPont and around the world. To the two of you for raising Christopher and Ben and Greg and for sharing them with us as well, thank you.

You are rooted in your faith: II James teaches us, ``Faith without works is dead.'' And St. Francis once said: ``Preach the Gospel always; when necessary, use words.''

By your acts, we have known your faith. And it has made all the difference. And you have changed me, our delegation, our State, and our world.

Captain Carper, Bravo Zulu. Well done, sir. Thank you.

(Applause, Senators rising.)

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