Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
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Mr. CARPER. Madam President, folks that are back in Delaware are probably wondering as they are watching on C-SPAN, What is our Senator doing there giving a floor speech and talking about a woman from Wyoming? There is a Wyoming, DE. It is in Kent County, which is just south of Dover. We have great restaurants, plenty of restaurants. In fact, the Senator from Wyoming described that Svilar's--is it Svilar's? I think it is Svilar's--still exists.
We have a huge Air Force base in Dover, the Dover Air Force Base. They fly huge airplanes and have a mortuary there to receive the remains of our fallen heroes. That is part of our State. We just have very strong support for military personnel and all things Air Force. I am Navy.
So it is the idea that we have a woman here--you know, it is one thing for a guy to have done some of this stuff that Dessie did, but it is another to have a woman in World War II volunteer and enlist on the heels of the attack on Pearl Harbor and to go on and serve, really, with distinction.
In my family, we believe in the Navy blue. My dad was a chief petty officer, and my uncles were chief petty officers. My mother's youngest brother died in a kamikaze attack on his aircraft carrier, and my grandmother got the Gold Star for the Great Green Fleet Navy blue. So I just get inspired by Dessie's heroism that we are hearing about here today.
For the people who might have been listening carefully when Senator Barrasso was talking about the restaurant that she opened, he said that, when the people were hungry, she fed them. That is a line out of the Bible. It is actually a line out of Matthew 25: When I was hungry, you did feed me. When I was naked, you did clothe me. When I was sick and in prison, you did visit me. When I was thirsty, you did give me drink.
This is a woman who not only served her country in uniform and who not only ran a successful business--it sounds like--for over 100 years for family but who actually felt a moral responsibility to make sure that people did not go hungry.
I also am the senior Democrat--I am the senior, actually, member of a committee called Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. We have jurisdiction, among other things on that committee, over the Postal Service. We have, literally, tens of thousands of people who serve in the Postal Service across the country today. It is a tough job and sometimes a thankless job, but we are grateful to them for their service. A lot of them, it turns out, served in the military. They may have served in the Korean war, and they may have served in Vietnam; they may have served in Afghanistan, and they may have served in Iraq. But they wore the uniform of our country, and they wore or wear the uniform of the Postal Service. In either instance, they are serving this country. They are serving their communities and are doing so, in some cases, at great risk to themselves.
There is a little bit of a love story in this as well. It is kind of a mixed marriage of a Navy woman and an Air Force man who get married and raise a family--have all of these kids--and go on to do amazing things as a family in their own community. It is a story that I am inspired by, and I am honored that Senator Barrasso would ask me to join him and Senator Lummis to tell the story, too.
I remember a couple of years ago when we were on the floor here-- Senator Barrasso and myself and a fellow named Mike Enzi, the late Mike Enzi, who held the seat that Senator Lummis now holds today--hearing them talk about the naming of a post office in Wyoming in a place called Thermopolis, which I had never heard of but that I will never forget. The question was, Should they rename that post office there after Bobbi Barrasso's dad? They didn't have a Democratic cosponsor for the bill. I talked to Senator Barrasso and to Senator Enzi and said: I would be honored. If you are looking for a bipartisan bill, I would be happy to be your wingman on this particular flight. And they were good enough to let me join the team.
So, to Dessie Bebout, your family members are out there, watching and listening. I want to just say thank you for sharing a remarkable person, not just with the folks in the town in which she and her family have lived, worked, and served for all of those years, but thank you for sharing her with our country in a broader way. Thank you for serving as an inspiration. We are in your debt, and I am honored to be part of this trio to offer this legislation today and to ask for its passage. ______
By Mr. McCONNELL (for himself, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Paul, Mr. Lee, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Rubio, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Braun):
S. 2284. A bill to require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
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