{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D10A033D-645B-4C50-92D6-CA265F1654CF", "Thune Honors the Service and Dedication of Sens. Gardner and McSally", "2020-12-08", "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 U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) for their years of service in Congress. Thune acknowledged each of them for their significant contributions to the country and noted they will be missed by their friends and colleagues in the Senate. Thune extended his best wishes to Gardner and McSally in their next endeavors.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to two senators whom I had hoped to serve with longer \u2013 Cory Gardner and Martha McSally.\n\n\u201cMr. President, one of the first things that became clear about Cory Gardner when he came to the Senate was that he is an incredibly hard worker.\n\n\u201cHe is tireless.\n\n\u201cCory has a great sense of humor, and I remember back during impeachment, when we were working some really late nights, he left 5-hour ENERGY drinks for all of us in our mailboxes.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ve got to say, Mr. President, you kind of need a 5-hour ENERGY drink to keep up with Cory.\n\n\u201cSeriously, though, Cory has a tremendous amount of energy and focus and drive, and he\u2019s left it all on the field during his time in the Senate.\n\n\u201cI think he knew when he was elected that he might not be here forever, and he has made every moment over the past six years count.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s a results-oriented guy; he\u2019s interested in getting things done.\n\n\u201cAnd he\u2019s built an impressive record.\n\n\u201cServing the people of Colorado has been the first thing on his mind every day, and he\u2019s spent a lot of time working on Colorado priorities, from protecting our public lands, to improving wildfire preparedness, to expanding health care access for veterans by ensuring the completion of the VA hospital in Aurora.\n\n\u201cBut he\u2019s also been a leader on foreign policy issues, specifically on the issue of holding North Korea and China accountable for their lack of freedom and their human rights violations \u2013 such as China\u2019s mass incarceration of Uyghurs and its targeting of Chinese citizens who dissent from the Communist Party line.\n\n\u201cCory has also been a great friend to Taiwan.\n\n\u201cAmong other things, he authored the TAIPEI Act, which the president signed into law earlier this year \u2013 legislation that makes it U.S. policy to support Taiwan\u2019s efforts to strengthen its relationships with countries in the Indo-Pacific and around the world.\n\n\u201cA free, prosperous, and safe Taiwan is in the interest of the United States, and Cory understands this well.\n\n\u201cMr. President, in addition to being one of the hardest-working people you will ever meet, Cory is also one of the most pleasant.\n\n\u201cHe has an upbeat personality and a contagious cheer, and committee hearings and meetings are always more enjoyable when he\u2019s around.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s been called a happy warrior, and it\u2019s a fitting title.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s an eternal optimist.\n\n\u201cAnd I don\u2019t mean that in a na\u00efve, wide-eyed sort of way.\n\n\u201cCory is well-aware of the challenges we face, in our nation and around the world, but he genuinely believes in our country and in our ability as citizens and as members of Congress to make life better for our fellow Americans.\n\n\u201cAnd over his six years here in the Senate, he has helped make life better \u2013 for his constituents in all four corners of his state, and for the American people.\n\n\u201cNobody could have worked harder for Colorado over the past six years.\n\n\u201cNobody.\n\n\u201cAnd he has done more for his state in a single term than many have managed to do in twice as long.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we were fortunate to have Cory here in the Senate.\n\n\u201cI will miss serving with him.\n\n\u201cBut I look forward to seeing what he does next.\n\n\u201cWhatever it is, I am confident of one thing: it will be great.\n\n**********\n\n\u201cMr. President, I didn\u2019t get as much time as I would have liked to work with Martha McSally.\n\n\u201cShe spent just two years with us here in the Senate, but she made the most of them.\n\n\u201cMartha\u2019s record is well-known.\n\n\u201cTwenty-six years in the Air Force.\n\n\u201cMultiple deployments to the Middle East and Afghanistan.\n\n\u201cFirst woman in U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat.\n\n\u201cFirst woman in U.S. history to command a fighter squadron in combat.\n\n\u201cBronze Star.\n\n\u201cSix air medals.\n\n\u201cMember of the U.S. House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cThe list goes on.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m a long-time runner and basketball player, so I\u2019m pretty committed to exercise, and one of the places I got to know Martha after she came to the Senate was in the Senate gym.\n\n\u201cMartha was a regular.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve always thought you can tell a lot about somebody by the way they approach physical exercise \u2013 something I saw with my dad.\n\n\u201cHe was a World War II fighter pilot who embodied the humility and quiet service that characterized the Greatest Generation.\n\n\u201cAnd those traits carried over into his approach to sports.\n\n\u201cHe was a basketball coach at my high school, and humility and service were the values he emphasized the most.\n\n\u201cYour job as a member of the team was to make the team look good \u2013 not to make yourself look good.\n\n\u201cIf the team needed you to make a basket, then great.\n\n\u201cBut if the team needed you to pass the ball so someone else could make the basket, then that\u2019s what you did.\n\n\u201cSo as I said, I\u2019ve always thought you can tell a lot about someone by how they approach physical exercise and sports.\n\n\u201cAnd Martha approaches exercise with determination and intensity.\n\n\u201cShe pushes herself to her limits.\n\n\u201cAnd those are qualities she\u2019s displayed throughout her career \u2013 whether she was breaking glass ceilings in the military or fighting here in Congress to protect the A-10 \u201cWarthog.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s made the most of her two years in the Senate, tying for the most bills signed into law during her first year.\n\n\u201cAnd Arizona has benefited from her tenacity and commitment.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Martha is tough and determined.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s also kind and generous \u2013 all traits that were displayed in her farewell speech last week.\n\n\u201cThere was a lot to admire in that speech.\n\n\u201cI was particularly struck by the gratitude she displayed.\n\n\u201cA lesser person might have betrayed some bitterness at the brevity of her time here.\n\n\u201cMartha was just grateful.\n\n\u201cGrateful for the opportunity to serve.\n\n\u201cGrateful for the team who worked with her.\n\n\u201cGrateful for what she was able to accomplish for Arizona.\n\n\u201cI am grateful to have not only served with her but to have had her as part of the whip team in this Congress.\n\n\u201cUnsurprisingly, she was a dedicated and effective deputy whip.\n\n\u201cAnd I will miss having her on the team.\n\n\u201cAt the end of her farewell address, Martha said, and I quote, \u201cToday represents a change in seasons for me and I don\u2019t yet have clarity on what my next mission is, but I do know who is the author and finisher of my faith and that he created each of us with purpose.\u201d\n\n\u201cMr. President, I am confident that the author of our faith has more great missions in mind for Martha McSally.", 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=D10A033D-645B-4C50-92D6-CA265F1654CF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8444590494036674, "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"}