{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A619AB89-3BA5-4084-9090-9A979331419A", "Thune: Alexander Will Leave a Legacy of Leadership and Service to Country", "2020-12-02", "2020", "2020-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today honored Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who will be retiring from the Senate at the end of this year. Thune discussed the significant mark that Alexander will leave on the Senate through his steadfast commitment to the American people for the entirety of his career. Thune also acknowledged that Alexander\u2019s legacy will extend far beyond his many legislative accomplishments \u2013 to his role as a mentor, leader, and friend to many of his colleagues, past and present.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Senate is going to miss Lamar Alexander.\n\n\u201cListening to his farewell address just now made the fact that he\u2019s leaving all too real.\n\n\u201cAnd I don\u2019t like to think of the Senate without Lamar.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s a Senate institution and a Senate leader, and his leaving is a loss for this body and for the American people.\n\n\u201cMr. President, any tribute to Lamar has to mention his incredible career.\n\n\u201cHis walk across the state of Tennessee.\n\n\u201cHis eight years as Tennessee governor.\n\n\u201cHis time as secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush.\n\n\u201cHis stint as president of the University of Tennessee system, and his time as a professor at Harvard.\n\n\u201cAnd then his 18 years in the Senate, marked by significant legislative accomplishments on everything from education to opioids.\n\n\u201cAll that, and he makes a plaid shirt look good \u2013 although these days, he\u2019s switched to a plaid face mask.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I first met Lamar when he attended a Lincoln Day Dinner in South Dakota in 1995.\n\n\u201cBut I really started to get to know him a little bit when I came to the Senate in 2005.\n\n\u201cLamar had already been there for a couple of years by that time, and of course he already had an extraordinary career behind him, and I know I was not the only young senator who regarded him as something of a mentor and role model.\n\n\u201cI share a couple of things with Lamar.\n\n\u201cOne is the fact that we were both Senate staffers long before we came to the Senate as elected officials.\n\n\u201cAnd the other is that he and I have both served as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference \u2013 the messaging and communications office for Republicans in the Senate.\n\n\u201cI succeeded Lamar as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference in 2012.\n\n\u201cHe was a tough act to follow \u2013 but an inspiring one.\n\n\u201cHe did a tremendous job leading our messaging in the conference.\n\n\u201cLamar has an ability to break down complex subjects and communicate them clearly.\n\n\u201cHe can sum up an issue in one succinct phrase.\n\n\u201cTake his summary of the energy issue \u2013 We need to \u201cfind more and use less.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s about as clear of a summary of our energy priorities as you can get.\n\n\u201cAnd I think that ability to really break down complex issues and clearly explain them is one of the reasons he was such a good conference chairman, and one of the reasons he has been so successful legislatively.\n\n\u201cAnd he has been successful legislatively.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s managed to get things passed that I don\u2019t think anyone thought could get passed in the polarized political environment we\u2019ve been in.\n\n\u201cBut Lamar has an ability to bring people together from across the aisle.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s very practical about the business of legislating \u2013 he focuses on what it\u2019s actually possible to do \u2013 and he finds the common ground, and he gets things done.\n\n\u201cThe America COMPETES Act.\n\n\u201cThe Every Student Succeeds Act.\n\n\u201cThe 21st Century Cures Act.\n\n\u201cThe Opioid Crisis Response Act.\n\n\u201cI could go on.\n\n\u201cLamar has held multiple leadership positions in the Senate \u2013 chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senate Republican Conference chairman \u2013 but he\u2019s always been a leader whether or not he\u2019s in an official leadership position, simply by virtue of who he is.\n\n\u201cMr. President, as I said before, Lamar has been a mentor and role model to me \u2013 and I know to many others.\n\n\u201cBut I also have to mention his personal warmth and hospitality to me and my wife when our daughter was studying at Belmont University in Nashville.\n\n\u201cHe and his wife Honey opened their home to us in Nashville.\n\n\u201cThey hosted us in the Smokies.\n\n\u201cThey took us to a Titans game.\n\n\u201cThey went above and beyond, and to this day we are grateful for their warmth and generosity \u2013 and for the chance to get to see Lamar in his element, in his beloved Tennessee.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Lamar has dedicated much of his life to his state and country, and nobody could be more deserving of retirement.\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019ll be surprised if he ever fully retires.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure that even while sitting on his porch, he\u2019s still going to be dreaming up ways to make our country better.\n\n\u201cLamar, thank you for your leadership and your mentorship.\n\n\u201cThank you for being a role model to so many of us.\n\n\u201cAnd God bless you in your retirement.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-28T00:42:23Z"]], "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/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A619AB89-3BA5-4084-9090-9A979331419A"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9059871081262827, "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"}