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Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as Republican leader, I always enjoyed calling our colleagues' attention to longtime Senate staff as they notched milestones of service in our institution, but today, I would like to reflect for a few moments on a longtime advisor who is an institution in his own right.

There have been any number of occasions over the past several decades when it would have been right and fitting to praise the talents and service of Paul Grove. There has certainly been no shortage of situations where, except for the efforts of this one man, the Senate might have missed opportunities to advance America's influence on the world stage.

The longtime Republican clerk at the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations is quite literally that good, but Paul, like so many of the brightest unelected members of the Senate family, is also good at dodging credit for his extraordinary service to the Senate and to our country.

Well, not this time. Tomorrow will mark a cumulative 30 years of Senate service for Paul--25 of them consecutively. He has more Senate experience than 96 of our elected colleagues, and as his first Senate boss, I am invoking my right to say a few words about it.

Long before Paul Grove was the Senate's resident expert on the levers of American soft power and our trusted emissary to the furthest corners of Southeast Asia and even beyond, he was a junior legislative aide to a freshman Senator. And if memory serves, I initially paid him to advise me on, believe it or not, healthcare policy.

In that sense, Paul's career resembles many Capitol Hill success stories: Show up with intelligence, a good work ethic, and let the rest of it sort itself out. But with due respect to the many thousands of smart and hard-working staff who walked these halls, Paul Grove's engine runs on even rarer fuel--a deep, sincere, and abiding belief that the task before him was good and worthy of his best.

My fellow appropriators understand that when folks complain about ``how the sausage is made'' here in Washington, they are referring to us and the complex ways that we try to keep the lights on around here. But if you are ever tempted to think it is all a bunch of grizzled paper-pushers and number-crunchers, untethered to the real world, I would encourage you to spend some time with Paul Grove.

My good friend Robin Cleveland, who preceded Paul at the subcommittee, described him as a ``true believer.'' That is dead right. He is a true believer in the dividends of American leadership, the power of our influence, and the prospects of democracy--even in places where it seems to be on the ropes. Perhaps that is why the only thing that ever pulled Paul away from the Senate and our important role in shaping American foreign policy was a chance to go even closer to the frontlines.

By the time Paul returned from several years in Cambodia, where he supported fledgling democracy movements across Southeast Asia, he was the obvious choice to help me lead the subcommittee. And while no one could fill Robin's shoes, Paul brought his own, and they fit perfectly. His approach is certainly less profane but no less fortunate and formidable. Ask anyone in the State Department who has dealt with Paul whether it is worth trying to dodge his pointed inquiries.

During my time as chairman, Paul and I crisscrossed the world together, and I learned the hard way that Paul's approach to trip planning could have made even our late friend the intrepid John McCain think twice.

On my first codel to Iraq and Afghanistan with Paul, he had us wake up in Pakistan, attend briefings and lunch in Afghanistan, refuel in Oman, and have dinner in Turkiye. Paul may have been the only one still awake during that dinner, and I tried to institute a maximum ``two countries per day'' rule after that.

In capitals and far-flung outposts alike, Paul's devotion to our mission made me smarter and more effective, and I am sure my successors as SFOPS chair, Judd Gregg and now-Chairman Lindsey Graham, know the feeling--no doubt, so did full committee leaders like Ted Stevens, Thad Cochran, Richard Shelby, and now Susan Collins.

When I look back on this chapter of our work together, I am particularly grateful for Paul's focus on a cause that has come to mean a great deal to both of us: the pro-democracy movement in Burma. As the old saying goes, success has 1,000 fathers. Needless to say, Washington hasn't exactly jumped to claim credit for the modest progress of Burma's brave champions of democracy like our dear friend Aung San Suu Kyi, who sits today in house arrest under the thumb of a military junta. And yet, for friends of the people of Burma, Paul Grove has been a constant presence--scrutinizing every development, pressing successive administrations toward sensible United States policy that counters PRC influence and holds a military junta to account--and tending the embers of hope for a people who has faced far more than their fair share of hardship.

Paul has been to the bottom of seemingly intractable challenges across the globe but has never lost sight of America's interest in resolving them.

He became a master of using the power of the purse to compel transparency, extract justice for Americans, reward dedicated partners, and oil--or sometimes replace--the squeaky gears in the machine of soft power.

Frankly, to the extent that America has had more responsible friends and capable allies in the fight against terrorism or communism or authoritarianism, it has been in no small part due to Paul's dogged efforts.

I have been fortunate to get to hire and to have had the opportunity to hire a lot of very smart and dedicated young patriots during my time here in the Senate. Very rarely have I managed to draw on their talents for as long as I have been able to lean on Paul Grove.

So, today, with 30 years under his belt, it is a good time to say thank you, Paul.

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