{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=0C0846AE-8A4A-44AA-A925-CEDBE97037EC", "Majority Leader McConnell Pays Tribute to Vice President Biden", "2016-12-07", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks today on the Senate floor recognizing Vice President Joe Biden and his years of service in the U.S. Senate, as a Senator from Delaware and as the Vice President of the United States:\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s great to see the presiding officer back in the Senate.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s good news for everyone when he\u2019s in that chair.\r\n\u201cGood news for him, because the rest of us have to call him Mr. President.\r\n\u201cGood news for the rest of us, because he has to let someone else talk.\r\n\u201cThe amazing thing is, the man we honor today wasn\u2019t always a talker. He suffered from a debilitating stutter for most of his childhood. He was teased for it. But he was determined to overcome it. So he did. With hard work. With determination. With the support of his family. It\u2019s classic Joe Biden. He\u2019s never stopped talking since.\r\n\u201cHe cites overcoming that stutter as one of the most important lessons in his life.\r\n\u201cIt led him down a path few might have foreseen.\r\n\u201cWinning election to the county council\u2026\r\n\u201cSecuring an improbable victory for the U.S. Senate\u2026\r\n\u201cBecoming our nation\u2019s 47th Vice President\u2026\u201cThe presiding officer would be the first to tell you that he\u2019s been blessed in many ways. He\u2019s also been tested, knocked down, pushed to the edge of what anyone could be expected to bear.\r\n\u201cBut from the grip of unknowable despair came a new man \u2014 a better man: stronger and more compassionate, grateful for every moment, appreciative of what really matters.\r\n\u201cHere in the Senate, he heeded the advice of Mike Mansfield. \u2018Your job here is to find the good things in your colleagues,\u2019 Mansfield told him. \u2018And, Joe, never attack another man\u2019s motive, because you don\u2019t know his motive.\u2019\r\n\u201cLook for the good.\r\n\u201cDon\u2019t attack motives.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s the basis of a simple philosophy \u2014 and a powerful one.\r\n\u201cVice President Biden says he views his competitors as competitors, not enemies, and he\u2019s been able to cultivate many unlikely friendships across the aisle.\r\n\u201cWith Jesse Helms. With Strom Thurmond. With me.\r\n\u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve worked together on issues of mutual interest, like Burma and \u2014 regarding the vote we took just a few moments ago \u2014 21st Century Cures and the Cancer Moonshot.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve also negotiated in good faith when the country needed bipartisan leadership. We got results that would not have been possible without a negotiating partner like Joe Biden. I don\u2019t always agree with him, but I do trust him implicitly. He doesn\u2019t break his word. He doesn\u2019t waste time telling me why I\u2019m wrong. He gets down to brass tacks and keeps sight of the stakes.\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s a reason \u2018get Joe on the phone\u2019 is shorthand for \u2018time to get serious\u2019 in my office.\r\n\u201cThe vice president is a likeable guy too.\r\n\u201cHe\u2019s got a well-developed sense of humor. He doesn\u2019t take himself too seriously either.\r\n\u201cWhen The Onion ran a mock photo of him washing a Trans-Am in the White House driveway, shirtless, Americans embraced it and so did he.\r\n\u201c\u2019I think it\u2019s hilarious,\u2019 he said. \u2018By the way, I have a Corvette \u2014 a \u201967 Corvette \u2014 not a Trans-Am.\u2019\r\n\u201cSee what I mean?\r\n\u201cJoe Biden may exist in the popular imagination aboard an Amtrak, but this son of a used-car salesman will always be a muscle car guy at heart.\r\n\u201cAnd what a road he has traveled.\r\n\u201cFrom New Castle to the Naval Observatory, from Scranton to the Senate.\r\n\u201cHis journey in this body began by the side of those who loved him.\r\n\u201cHand on the Bible.\r\n\u201cHeart in a knot.\r\n\u201cSwearing the same oath he now administers to others.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s a journey that ends now by the side of those who care about him still \u2014 those, like his wife Jill, who understand the full life he\u2019s lived.\r\n\u201cHere\u2019s a man who\u2019s known great joy, who\u2019s been read his last rites, who\u2019s never lost himself along the way.\r\n\u201c\u2019Champ,\u2019 his father used to say, \u2018the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.\u2019\r\n\u201cThat\u2019s Joe Biden right there.\r\n\u201cUnbowed\u2026\r\n\u201cUnbroken\u2026\r\n\u201cUnable to stop talking.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s my privilege to convey the Senate\u2019s warm wishes to the vice president on this Delaware Day as the next steps of his long journey come into view. There are many here who feel this way in both parties.\r\n\u201cI\u2019m reminded of something the presiding officer said when he addressed the University of Louisville several years ago. It was one of the McConnell Center\u2019s most popular lectures ever. And, as I sat behind him, he offered his theory as to why that might be.\r\n\u201c\u2019[I think you\u2019re all here today because] you want to see whether or not a Republican and Democrat really like one another,\u2019 he said.\r\n\u201c\u2019Well,\u2019 he continued, flashing a smile, \u2018I\u2019m here to tell you we do.\u2019\r\n\u201cIt was true then.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s true today.\r\n\u201cSo I hope the presiding officer won\u2019t mind if I conclude with some words directed to the chair.\r\n\u201cYou\u2019ve been a real friend, you\u2019ve been a trusted partner, and it\u2019s been an honor to serve with you.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re all going to miss you.\r\n\u201cGodspeed.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=0C0846AE-8A4A-44AA-A925-CEDBE97037EC"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5180730260908604, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}