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Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I would like to thank our colleague from Wisconsin for her beautiful words, her heartfelt memories.

And, mostly, I know personally how proud Senator Kohl was that you, Senator Baldwin, got elected and serve your State so well. You are truly a tribute to your State but also to Herb's memory.

I am here as the neighbor, the Senator next door, the one who got to know Herb Kohl, because Minnesota and Wisconsin, despite our rivalries--as the Presiding Officer knows, when it comes to the Vikings and the Packers and the Badgers and the Gophers--we actually have a lot more in common than what divides us.

In fact, my mom grew up in Milwaukee. I talked to her many times. She also was the daughter of immigrant parents. In her case, her dad worked at the Porth Pie Company, which Herb was aware of, and came from humble roots.

Senator Kohl's life was really as American as they come. He was born, as we noted, in Milwaukee to immigrant parents. He learned the value of hard work, as Senator Baldwin discussed, as a bag boy at his dad's market. He attended public high school and the University of Wisconsin before earning his MBA. From there, he and his brother worked to build their family's business into an iconic department store chain, Kohl's, of course. I can't tell you how many times, visiting my grandma in Milwaukee, we would be like: We can get that at Kohl's. We can go to Kohl's.

They were so proud of the work that he did.

Later, when his beloved Milwaukee Bucks almost left Wisconsin, it was Herb who bought the team just so he could keep them there. I know that Senator Baldwin is proud of the Bucks' 2021 final win, and we all know it would never have been the Milwaukee Bucks without Herb Kohl.

After working his way up from a bag boy to a basketball team owner, Herb didn't have to seek public office, but he loved his State and its people too much to rest on his laurels. To him, running for office was not in any way a path to personal gain. It was a moral obligation.

After winning election to the Senate in 1988, he got to work right away for the people of Wisconsin, and, as Senator Baldwin noted, he worked to expand the supply of affordable housing for elderly Americans, crack down on corporate espionage, expand safe and affordable childcare, and secure critical medical training investments in the Affordable Care Act. How proud I know he was of Senator Baldwin's--then-Representative Baldwin's--important role in making sure that older kids were able to be covered under their parents' policies under the Affordable Care Act.

But he took as much pride in making sure of the big things, as how a single dairy farmer could stay afloat in a low-producing season.

On a personal note, I was lucky to call Herb a mentor and a friend. We worked together during my early years in the Senate, including on ending 30 years of delay so that the construction of the St. Croix River bridge between Minnesota and Wisconsin could move forward. Senator Baldwin and I were there for the completion of that historic bridge, what we consider one of the most beautiful bridges in our State--maybe the most beautiful bridge, but I can never say that. Herb was there from the beginning on that project.

When Herb cared about something, he would work to get it done, and he would work, as Senator Baldwin has said, in a humble way. He was never one to seek the spotlight, and, in a Chamber full of egos and big speeches, that certainly made him stand out.

I remember that even though he was a multimillionaire, he always used to eat his lunch in the cafeteria, often buying lunch for staffers that he encountered in line.

One time, he brought me to eat there because I was taking over from him as the head of the antitrust subcommittee. He gave me advice from a business perspective. People don't always think of antitrust in that way, but Herb Kohl was a true entrepreneur. He was a competitor. He believed that competition was a big part of capitalism, and that is why he cherished his work on that subcommittee and gave me all kinds of advice about how to talk about it in a way that, from the very beginning of America's roots and our economy, from the Founding Fathers on, competition was what made us successful. And he certainly believed that when he built that department store chain up and didn't just kowtow to whoever was there from the beginning. That really dictated a lot about how I thought about antitrust.

He also told me to hire his staff, like Caroline, and gave me such good advice on doing that. I think it was also a great example of Herb Kohl because he was looking out for his staff, not just while he was in the Senate but long after he left.

He didn't have to do any of that. There is no rule in the Senate that subcommittee chairs have to impart their wisdom at a formal lunch in the Senate cafeteria--maybe not that formal--to the next generation, and there is no rule that Senators have to keep looking out for their staff years and years after they retire. But that is just who Herb was. He embodied midwestern compassion--generous with his spirit, generous with his time, and generous with his resources.

He spent his early career working hard to build wealth, and he spent the rest of his life using it to make a difference in the world.

As a product of the public schools, he knew firsthand that a quality education was a pathway to success, and that is why he made it his mission, later in life, to give back and to invest in public education, advocating for breakfast and lunch for low-income students, championing Wisconsin's Teacher of the Year Program, and on multiple occasions paid for entire slates of teachers' back-to-school supply wish lists, something that deeply resonated with me, as my mom would always complain about having to buy her own supplies for her classroom as a second grade teacher because she wanted them to have the best.

Today, thanks to his charitable giving, scholarships, and educational foundation--and even though from Wisconsin, I must acknowledge--the Badgers' hockey and basketball arena bear his name. Herb's philanthropy was motivated not by glory but by an unwavering devotion to his State.

So I will end with this. I think what best captures Herb may have been that slogan when he first ran for Senate, and it was this: ``Nobody's Senator but yours.'' In a field where what is noble is often sacrificed for what is expedient, that might seem naive or unrealistic--not for Herb. Throughout his 24 years in the Senate, he never broke that promise.

Anyone who has driven from Stillwater, MN, over to the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix River, they can thank Herb Kohl. And anyone who went to school on a Kohl Student Excellence Scholarship can thank him. And anyone who roots for the Milwaukee Bucks, which, once upon a time, almost became the Minnesota Bucks--but we are not going to go into that story because we have our own team now that is doing pretty well. No, this is not the time to do that. We can thank Herb Kohl.

The Senate is better off, the State of Wisconsin is better off because of Herb, and, certainly, our country is better off.

My thoughts are with his friends, his family, his former staff, and, of course, the intrepid and wonderful Senator Baldwin.

Again, he couldn't be prouder that you got elected, Senator Baldwin.

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