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Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, 2 weeks ago, I talked about Lithuanian Independence Day; yesterday, Estonia's Independence Day. Today, I have another country, but I don't want my colleagues to think that I am going to be speaking about the Independence Day of all 200 nations on the face of this Earth. In fact, I know very few of their Independence Days.
But because the United States and my State of Iowa has a close relationship with Kosovo, I want to recognize that Tuesday, February 17, was that Republic's Independence Day; that is, the 18th anniversary of Kosovo's Declaration of Independence in the year 2008.
Also, next month will mark 15 years of Kosovo-Iowa National Guard partnership. Many Iowa National Guard members have served in Kosovo, starting with the NATO mission there, to working with the Kosovo Security Force as part of the National Guard State Partnership Program. Both my State of Iowa and Kosovo have found this partnership to be very beneficial, so much so that it has grown into a whole sister state relationship.
Our Governor Reynolds and the president of the Kosovo exchange visits and keep in contact, and that close working relationship extends down to other Iowa and Kosovo Government officials.
Kosovo and Iowa have also developed close ties in areas like trade and education, in addition to the national security concerns of both countries. People from Kosovo have attended Iowa's educational institutions, and Kosovo has even established a consulate in our capital city of Des Moines.
When you look at the polling of which countries have a favorable impression of the United States, Kosovo often comes up on top. I am proud that my State has such a close relationship with arguably the most pro-American country in the world. Our State and the country of Kosovo both benefit from the ties that we continue to build. I know that both Iowans and people of Kosovo cherish our partnership, and I look forward to that partnership continuing to grow.
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