{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.thune.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_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", null, null, "legacy", "Washington\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\tU.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's legacy will extend far beyond his many legislative accomplishments  to his role as a mentor, leader, and friend to many of his colleagues, past and present.\r\nThune's remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\r\nMr. President, the Senate is going to miss Lamar Alexander.\r\nListening to his farewell address just now made the fact that he's leaving all too real. \r\nAnd I don't like to think of the Senate without Lamar.\r\nHe's a Senate institution and a Senate leader, and his leaving is a loss for this body and for the American people. \r\nMr. President, any tribute to Lamar has to mention his incredible career.\r\nHis walk across the state of Tennessee.\r\nHis eight years as Tennessee governor.\r\nHis time as secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush.\r\nHis stint as president of the University of Tennessee system, and his time as a professor at Harvard.\r\nAnd then his 18 years in the Senate, marked by significant legislative accomplishments on everything from education to opioids.\r\nAll that, and he makes a plaid shirt look good  although these days, he's switched to a plaid face mask.\r\nMr. President, I first met Lamar when he attended a Lincoln Day Dinner in South Dakota in 1995. \r\nBut I really started to get to know him a little bit when I came to the Senate in 2005.\r\nLamar 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.\r\nI share a couple of things with Lamar.\r\nOne is the fact that we were both Senate staffers long before we came to the Senate as elected officials.\r\nAnd the other is that he and I have both served as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference  the messaging and communications office for Republicans in the Senate.\r\nI succeeded Lamar as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference in 2012.\r\nHe was a tough act to follow  but an inspiring one.\r\nHe did a tremendous job leading our messaging in the conference.\r\nLamar has an ability to break down complex subjects and communicate them clearly.\r\nHe can sum up an issue in one succinct phrase.\r\nTake his summary of the energy issue  We need to find more and use less.\r\nThat's about as clear of a summary of our energy priorities as you can get.\r\nAnd 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.\r\nAnd he has been successful legislatively.\r\nHe's managed to get things passed that I don't think anyone thought could get passed in the polarized political environment we've been in.\r\nBut Lamar has an ability to bring people together from across the aisle.\r\nHe's very practical about the business of legislating  he focuses on what it's actually possible to do  and he finds the common ground, and he gets things done.\r\nThe America COMPETES Act.\r\nThe Every Student Succeeds Act.\r\nThe 21st Century Cures Act.\r\nThe Opioid Crisis Response Act.\r\nI could go on.\r\nLamar has held multiple leadership positions in the Senate  chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senate Republican Conference chairman  but he's always been a leader whether or not he's in an official leadership position, simply by virtue of who he is.\r\nMr. President, as I said before, Lamar has been a mentor and role model to me  and I know to many others.\r\nBut 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.\r\nHe and his wife Honey opened their home to us in Nashville.\r\nThey hosted us in the Smokies.\r\nThey took us to a Titans game.\r\nThey went above and beyond, and to this day we are grateful for their warmth and generosity  and for the chance to get to see Lamar in his element, in his beloved Tennessee. \r\nMr. President, Lamar has dedicated much of his life to his state and country, and nobody could be more deserving of retirement.\r\nBut I'll be surprised if he ever fully retires.\r\nI'm pretty sure that even while sitting on his porch, he's still going to be dreaming up ways to make our country better.\r\nLamar, thank you for your leadership and your mentorship.\r\nThank you for being a role model to so many of us.\r\nAnd God bless you in your retirement.\r\nI will miss you.", 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": ["http://www.thune.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=A619AB89-3BA5-4084-9090-9A979331419A"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7260281126946211, "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"}