{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-pays-tribute-to-the-life-and-legacy-of-senator-lindsey-graham/", "Thune Pays Tribute to the Life and Legacy of Senator Lindsey Graham", "2026-07-13", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, I come to the floor today with a heavy heart.\n\n\u201cI look to my right and I see a desk which we in the Senate refer to and know as the John Calhoun desk.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s covered with a black shroud.\n\n\u201cAnd on \u2026 top of that shroud is a bowl of white roses.\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is Lindsey Graham\u2019s desk.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to believe that Lindsey Graham is no longer here with us \u2013 that we won\u2019t run into him at a meeting today, or share a joke with him at this afternoon\u2019s vote.\n\n\u201cThe halls of the Senate already feel empty without him.\n\n\u201cAnd I know I\u2019m not alone in that feeling.\n\n\u201cHe was a friend to so many of us, on both sides of the aisle.\n\n\u201cAnd I know that I\u2019m not the only one who finds it difficult to imagine the Senate without Lindsey Graham.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the events of Lindsey\u2019s life have been well-documented over the past couple of days.\n\n\u201cHis humble beginnings in South Carolina, sharing a single room with the rest of his family behind his family\u2019s bar.\n\n\u201cHis guardianship of his younger sister Darline, after the untimely death of their parents.\n\n\u201cHis long service in the Air Force, the South Carolina Air National Guard, and the Air Force Reserve.\n\n\u201cHis career in politics, first as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives; then as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where I served with him for six years; and then in the Senate, where he was just completing his fourth term.\n\n\u201cIn the Senate, Lindsey distinguished himself as a staunch conservative \u2013 and a fierce advocate for South Carolina \u2013 but also as someone who was willing to work across the aisle to find common ground and to reach solutions.\n\n\u201cA lawyer by trade, he served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2021, where he helped confirm a Supreme Court justice and numerous federal judges \u2013 the kind of judges who believe in following the law and the Constitution, instead of legislating policy from the bench.\n\n\u201cMost of all, of course, Mr. President, Lindsey was known for his national security and foreign policy work.\n\n\u201cThere was no bigger believer in America\u2019s role in the world.\n\n\u201cHe was confident that the United States could be a force for good, and he gave everything he had to ensuring that we would be.\n\n\u201cHe was a friend and defender of freedom-loving peoples all over the world.\n\n\u201cHe stood with the Ukrainian people in their fight against Russian aggression, and he died with his boots on, having just returned from a trip to Ukraine \u2013 his tenth.\n\n\u201cHe believed fiercely in the importance of a strong national defense \u2013 in ensuring that our country, and our military men and women, were always prepared to deter and defeat any threat.\n\n\u201cBut while there was always a lot made of his support for American hard power, he was also a big believer in the use of soft power \u2013 economic, diplomatic, and political solutions to the world\u2019s problems.\n\n\u201cI was fortunate to travel with him all over the world \u2013 including to Israel after Hamas\u2019 October 7th attack \u2013 and I saw firsthand the work that he did to promote American security and the security of freedom-loving peoples around the globe.\n\n\u201cAnd of course, I don\u2019t need to tell anyone in this body that Lindsey was fearless in his commitment to the causes that he espoused.\n\n\u201cIt didn\u2019t matter to him whether he would catch flack on an issue \u2013 he was undaunted by the politics if he believed he was right on the principle.\n\n\u201cSenator. Warrior. Patriot. Statesman.\n\n\u201cWords that will be written about Lindsey.\n\n\u201cBut for me, most of all, Mr. President, he was my friend.\n\n\u201c\u2018Without friends,\u2019 Aristotle said, \u2018no one would choose to live\u2019 \u2026 \u2018though he had all other goods.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s difficult to count the ways in which Lindsey\u2019s friendship made this job richer \u2013 and its burdens lighter.\n\n\u201cLindsey was as loyal as they come \u2013 and a trusted adviser.\n\n\u201cI could always rely on him for straight-talking advice.\n\n\u201cHe never minced words or pulled punches.\n\n\u201cI could also rely on him for a steady flow of humor and encouragement.\n\n\u201cHe always could make me laugh.\n\n\u201cAlways.\n\n\u201cIn the last couple of years, he came to South Dakota twice, and twice we sat on the deck and watched the sun go down on Lake Oahe \u2013 a familiar scene to me but new to him.\n\n\u201cAnd as the stars came out, you could see the Milky Way overhead and you could hear coyotes howling and rooster pheasants cackling down below.\n\n\u201cLindsey\u2019s wit punctuated all of it.\n\n\u201cAnd I will cherish those memories for a long time to come.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if there is any light to be found in this grief, it is this:\n\n\u201cThat as a Christian, like Lindsey, I know that death is not the end.\n\n\u201cThe Apostle Paul writes, and I quote, \u2018Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.\u2019\n\n\u201cOr as another Graham once put it, and I quote, \u2018Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don\u2019t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.\u2019\n\n\u201cI will miss Lindsey\u2019s friendship, Mr. President, more than I can say.\n\n\u201cWe pray for his staff and for his family, whom he loved dearly, and who loved him dearly in return.\n\n\u201cBut I am comforted by the knowledge that in the end, he has just changed his address.\n\n\u201cAnd that one day, Mr. President, we will laugh together again.\u201d", 1, "2026-07-14T07:08:55Z", "2026-07-14T07:10:52Z"]], "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.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-pays-tribute-to-the-life-and-legacy-of-senator-lindsey-graham/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.430832013487816, "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"}