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Floor Speech

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Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about our colleague Lindsey Graham, who tragically passed away last weekend.

Lindsey Graham was the definition of the word ``patriot.'' He loved this country and dedicated his life to serving this country. He was from humble backgrounds. His parents ran a bar. And, again, tragically, he lost his parents at a young age. His mom died when Lindsey was 20, and his dad died when he was 22. And so, as a young man, he took over the care of his sister Darline, who was only 13 years old.

He was the first in his family to go to college and then got a law degree, joined the Air Force. And to help take care of his sister, he adopted her so she could get his Air Force benefits. He served our country in the Air Force and in the National Guard and the Air Force Reserve, a total of 33 years, retiring at the rank of colonel and a Bronze Star.

He began his career in politics in 1992 in the South Carolina Legislature and got elected to the U.S. Congress, the House of Representatives, in 1994. He was the first Republican to be elected from his district since 1877. He served in the House for 8 years and then came to the Senate, 2002, taking over for Strom Thurmond. And he has been a dynamic personality in this body, and I have had the privilege to get to know him and call him my friend.

Lindsey Graham was part of the glue for the Senate, and not just for Republicans but for Republicans and Democrats. He worked across the aisle. Just a few days ago, my colleague from Delaware was talking about how he worked with Lindsey Graham on a number of different items; one is a conservation fund that also fights terrorism. He remarked that Lindsey, in his way, was able to boil down why this was so important and had hats created that said: ``Good for animals, bad for terrorists.''

And that was very typical of Lindsey because he could boil things down very simply to be able to make a point, almost like a country lawyer. He would say: How many people think that, for example, if Iran had a nuclear weapon, they would use it on us? Raise your hand. They would raise their hand.

And he would say: So how many people think it would be bad if they got a nuclear weapon? All of those people would raise their hand.

How many people think we should stop them from getting a nuclear weapon? They would raise their hand.

That is the simple way that Lindsey would make his point.

He was supersmart and had an incredible sense of humor. It was not often fun if you were on the other side of that sense of humor sometimes. In one of our Budget Committee hearings, Lindsey Graham was presiding, and we had one of our members who was going through all sorts of points and charts and so forth. And when the presentation came to an end, Lindsey Graham said something to the effect: Well, next time we are going to record that, and we are taking it down to Gitmo because it would be more effective down there. So you wanted to make sure that you were talking to the right audience and making your points quickly with Lindsey.

He was also very charming and was very direct. When he would go talk to foreign leaders, he would be able to get across those simple ideas the way he did with audiences back at home and be able to express directly through humor, through charming them, to help them understand where their interests were aligned with our interests, how we needed to work together to be able to keep the people of their country safe and the people of our country safe.

Lindsey was very clear-eyed about the dangers of dictators like Vladimir Putin. He understood, when Putin is losing, we are winning, we are safer. He was appalled by the invasion of Russia into Ukraine--that unprovoked, aggressive attack--and was a fierce advocate for supporting Ukraine, not only because of the injustice of what Russia is doing to Ukraine but because Lindsey understood what the threat to the United States and the people of America would be if Putin is successful; that if they are successful in Ukraine, they are going to go after a NATO member, and then we will have boots on the ground in Europe. Lindsey was trying to keep us safe by advocating for the Ukrainians.

When Lindsey would see an issue, he would hop on a plane and go fix it, whether it was overseas or to my home State of Nebraska. He came to Nebraska several times.

I loved the man. I had the privilege of spending time with him here over the last 3\1/2\ years. He liked Coke Zero and Riesling wines. He was charming, funny, intelligent, dedicated to this country. Our body and this country is losing a lot with Lindsey Graham. We are losing some of the humor we had. We are losing some the glue that holds us together. We are losing a fierce patriot, and our country is worse off for it.

Susanne and I are praying for Darline and the rest of her family and Lindsey's staff at this tragic time and, indeed, for our entire country as we have experienced the loss of this larger than life patriot, Lindsey Olin Graham.

Lindsey, I know you are looking down on us from upstairs, and you are going to do your best to guide us from up there. We really, really miss you.
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