What must be done. Cutting spending alone, i. E. Sequestration, is not the solution. Raising taxes is not the solution. It will take a combination of spending reduction, entitlement reform, and tax reform to stimulate more revenue. Hard and tough votes will have to be taken, but that is why we get elected to the United States senate. The world is waiting for america to lead on this issue. If we do, the u. S. Economy will respond in a very robust way. The gang of six laid the foundation for this problem to be solved and it is my hope that we do not leave the solution to the next generation. With what i have enjoyed most about congress and that is the opportunity i have had to spend with the men and women in uniform and those in the intelligence world, all of whom are willing to put their life in harms way for the sake of our freedom. Whether it was Robins Air Force , or dubail, jalalabad , i always get emotional telling the men and women how proud i am of them and how blessed we are to have them protecting us. Who are a special people sacrificed much for the sake of all 300 million americans. Let us also remember to be thankful for the families of those military and civilian personnel who likewise make a commitment to america. Anotherad into christmas season, many of those families will not have a home not have at home there spouse, their parent, their daughter, their son. May god bless this Great Institution and may god continue to bless our great country. I yield the floor. [applause] the senior senator from california is recognized. Thank you very much. Senator chambliss, my words are personal. We have worked together for the past eight years on the Senate Select committee on intelligence. Workedr years, we have as chair and cochair. E have exchanged views we have negotiated bills. We have shared information. We have been there through very tough times and some very pleasant times. It is very hard for me to see you go. I have learned to trust you. I respect you. The worked together committee put together a benghazi report. We worked very hard and found areas of agreement. Senator collins is here, on this committee. Senator warner is here. Am i missing anyone else from the committee . Senator burr, who will be the new chairman. Senator coburn. We were able to come together and put together a report unanimously. It was really because of your leadership. As i watched, it became very apparent. Maybe your side is not as fractious as my side is, but you were able to say yes, we can do this or no, we cannot do that and you respected your members. That made it very easy for me and i am very grateful. Yesterday, we disagreed. Really you know, you have never taken a cheap shot. At the samegether time to move our intelligence authorization bill. There was one last glitch which you worked out and that bill passed unanimously last night. We have worked to put together bill foronsharing what is probably our number one defensive issue, which is cyber and the attacks which have taken 97 of our businesses into difficulties. You have compromised. I have compromised. Unfortunately, on our site, we still had some unsolved issues. I will be able to pick up with senator burr where we left off and we will be able to get that job done next year. What i want you to know, and i said this to you in another way, that it was such a wonderful experience for me to work with you. Part. Is is the hard we are only here for an instant in an attorney. Eternity. The only thing that matters is what we do at that instant. You have really done yeomans work in that instant. I am very grateful to have the pleasure of working with you. I have learned from you and i wish you all good things. Thank you very much, senator chambliss. The senator from georgia is recognized. Tribute toise to pay my friend, Saxby Chambliss. This is a speech i never wanted to make. I never wanted to make it because we have had a wonderful relationship the last 10 years. We have done everything together. He has had my back and i have had his back. He is a great friend and i will miss him. But i am not a selfish guy. He married one of the finest women i have ever known, one of the best friends my wife has. Julianne is getting her saxby back. For her and their family and those grandkids, that is exactly what he wants to do. Georgia has had some great senators. Richard russell, who was really the master of the senate, a great friend of mine and a great mentor to our state. Of the finest one our state ever offered. Saxby is going to be the fourth on the Mount Rushmore of georgia senators. He served georgia with distinction and class. Joint years, we have done press conferences. We messed up twice. When i messed up, he covered my back and when he messed up, i covered his. In 2008, when he almost lost the race and got into a runoff, i rode the bus for 21 straight days, introducing him 20 times a day and eating barbecue every day for dinner and lunch. That is a price to pay that only friendship would bring out of anybody. He is a dear friend, a trusted person, and i love him and his family very much. I could talk all day, but i want saxby, i loveying you. This state is going to miss you, but our relationship has never been stronger. May god bless you and your family and may god bless the United States of america. The senator from West Virginia is recognized. I have only been here for four years. I came, lets just say it was not what i expected. You look for a little bit of a respite, if you will. My colleagues and my friends on the republican side, i did not come here looking at what side you were on. I looked at the person i was dealing with. There was a person defending me from almost the first day, knowing that the transition was a challenge. He stepped up to the plate with a few of my other friends over there, senator coburn behind him, and basically said, we can all Work Together and get along. What we do here is bigger, for the greater good, then what we do for ourselves. Basically, i was able to follow what he did. This chamber should be filled right now. It really should be. The bottom line is, you are loved by everybody. I have never heard any word an ill wordsexy spoke about Saxby Chambliss. Your moral compass is working and working well. I can only tell you, thank you. You are an inspiration to us all. There will not be another saxby. Glad they gave you the for this short time, for years. Your partner in crime, senator burr, we hope he does not tell it all when he gets up. With that being said, there are so many people that have a relationship that is unmatched and that is because of you. My hat is off to you. Thank you and god bless you for what you have done for the United States of america and all of us. The senior senator from North Carolina is recognized. This moment is bittersweet for me. Withe spent more time saxby then i have my own wife for the last 20 years. We have done everything together. Those vacation spots he mentioned, kabul, baghdad, i was right beside him. We traveled to areas of the world that others would not venture to. There was a reason he was there. He was concerned about americas future. He was concerned about his childrens future. He was in a position to have an impact on it, to make it better for them in the future. That is why he served. To our colleagues that he is a lot older than i am. But you know, he has worked just as hard as the youngest member of this institution. And even though we have seen each others children grow up and now we have seen them all , he deserves the time to go home and spend some time with his grandchildren and, more importantly, to get to know his wife again. Say, senator feinstein, i like great one just read i as saxby does probably could not be bought as cheaply as he could, but i look forward to continuing to work with you and, more importantly, to continue to do the work on the Intelligence Committee that really does build on what saxby 2000, as wehe year went on the house Intelligence Committee together. Tohink there is only one way sum up Saxby Chambliss. He is a true so in doubled a true southern gentleman. He is absolutely a statesman. But the one thing that everybody that meets saxby understands is this he is a great american. He loves this country. He loves this institution. And some piece of him that was made here, when he these at the end of this year, he will have an impact on what happens even though his presence might be here might not be here. We wish him godspeed. The senior senator from indiana is recognized. Out of order here, i was waiting for some of my colleagues who spent more time than i have to speak. But i want to take this sincereity to add my thanks to Saxby Chambliss for the kind of person he is, the kind of leadership he has provided, the kind of example he has set during his time here in congress and the United States senate. I was privileged to be able to come back to the senate and join a group of people who shared the same deep concerns that i shared. The reason i did come back, threats to our country from abroad and the fiscal plunge into debt that is going to affect our nation dramatically in the future. But having the privilege of being with people who set such an example has been a great privilege for me. If i were a producer and a director of a movie that was going to come out about the United States senate, i would want saxby to be the leading man. First of all, he looks like a United States senator. , calm that southern presence that most of us envy. He just seems to fit the profile. Choice would have to be for the leading lady and you could not find a more gracious, beautiful, supportive leading lady then juliann chambliss. They make a stunning couple. I have had the privilege of and seeingith them them in different places and situations. Is to tremendous gift it be with the both of them. United states senate, many of us here are going to delete this Saxby Chambliss. He comes from a line of distinguished senators representing the state of georgia. As senator burr said, he fits right in to that long list of people whose tenure here has been remembered for decades and will continue to be remembered for decades. And his commitment to our men , hisomen in uniform service to the agriculture hisunity, and particularly leadership of the Intelligence Committee has just been leadership that this country has needed in a time of dire circumstances. His work with chairman feinstein in dealing with the daily pressures and weight of responsibility that falls on the leadership and all of us who serve every committee, but particularly the leadership of , itIntelligence Committee is very difficult. Decisions have had to be made. I sometimes came out of the committee thinking, this is more than i can get my mind around. This is more than i can get my arms around in terms of how we deal with some of these threats and challenges that pop up over the world in various manifestations. And yet the leadership on the republican side, Saxby Chambliss united us in a way that forged a real bond and a desire to work on a nonpartisan basis to provide oversight for the Intelligence Community and to be a part of helping make those decisions that are so important and formative in terms of how we deal with these particular issues. Forst want to thank saxby the person he has been, the person he is, the person he will continue to be, for the example he has set, for his friendship, and for his extraordinary leadership. The refrigerator will be stocked with cocacola. There will be georgia peanuts in his pocket. Maybe a little bit of bourbon in a drawer somewhere and he will have a teatime at augusta just about anytime he wants. I just wish him the very best. Ann go forward with their lives. She has left his mark here and he has certainly left his mark on me. The senator from oklahoma is recognized. Thank you a lot has been said about saxby already. That ian observation have noticed over the last 10 years since i have been here. It is about leadership. We see elected leadership on both sides. But then you see real leadership. You see the person that people go to for device. For advice. You see the person that people go to for counsel. You see the person that people go to for wisdom and judgment. Noticed the i have last 10 years. ,ore than anybody in this body whether it is from the other side of the aisle or this side of the aisle, the person who is most sought, the council that is most sought is that of Saxby Chambliss. Leadership. Ned real and it needs to be recognized and honored for what it is. Is it ishat it says leadership that comes without judgment on the person in question. Without combination condemnation of a position that may be different than his, giving himself for the benefit of the rest of us. Ear, hear, my friend from georgia. Is an honor for me to stand here and pay tribute to Saxby Chambliss. Time that ifirst really got to work around saxby to be secretary of agriculture and i think the first hearing saxby chaired as chairman of the Senate Ag Committee might have been that hearing. I arrived in washington and i was scared to death. I had no idea what to expect. I met with saxby and i knew immediately that when i was in that hearing, i was going to be treated with dignity and with notect because he would have it any other way. That is the way he did business. Fortunately, i was confirmed and that started a working relationship. , i will not try to argue that we agreed on every ce ofants of every nuan foreign policy. I am positive there were times that saxby was convinced i did not know a thing about southern agriculture. But he was patient with me and with all agriculture, whether it was south, west, midwest. His goal was to be the chairman of the ag committee for all of agriculture. In that time, the farm bill written and he was a tough negotiator. He had a mind in terms of where he was headed and he was going to stand up for his people. Came to respect him so much it was in the senate where i really begin to understand his talent. I cannot tell you how many times that we have been in a caucus asking and somebody would the most intricate, difficult question relating to intelligence and National Security. Invariably, we would turn to saxby. In that quietand but forceful way he has. He would walk us through the intricacies of the issues on whatever the topic was and explain it in a way that literally everybody in the room understood, got it, and walked out betterprepared to be senators with the information he had given us. What has impressed me so much, and i know i speak for my colleagues when i say this, is you could do the same thing with the most intricate issue relative to farm policy, hence, or federal budget could do the same thing. The breath of his knowledge is breadth ofle the his knowledge is unbelievable. I want to thank you for the many times when you probably disagreed with me immensely but treated me thoughtfully and respectfully, listened to my opinion. And i saw you do that with other members of this body. I thank you for your service. Members, the retiring i will look forward to the opportunity to spend more time with you. Paths cross many times in the future because i know i will be the better for it. God bless you, my friend. Best wishes. The senator from ohio is recognized. I am so proud to be here to say a couple of words about my friend saxby. He is beloved. Alsoenators who just spoke is choosing to leave us. I got to tell you, they leave a huge void. When he came saxby to the house of representatives in the early 1990s. I was there and we became friends. Although i was a kid from ohio and he was from the south, he embraced me. A great family. I really did not get to know him. I got to know him when he was trade representative and my job was to try to open up markets for u. S. Agricultural products around the world. That required looking at something called subsidies, agriculture subsidies. This is a dangerous area in terms of politics. Mike johanns is very well aware of this, having been there during many of the negotiations. My job was to come to the Agriculture Committee and talk about what we were up to and find out how much flexibility there was for us to get these markets open, because it was so important for our markets and rent our ranchers. I learned a new Saxby Chambliss. That is when i saw the leadership that was talked about earlier. Saxby was willing to be not just constructive, but to take that risk and to be totally discrete and confidential in dealing with very sensitive issues. I came away with a whole new level of understanding about saxby and a new respect for him and his character and his willingness to do what is right. More recently, we have seen his leadership on other issues, standing up for our men and women in uniform. To me, he has been the guardian at the gate, giving us all comfort as Ranking Member of the Intelligence Committee. We live in a dangerous world and knowing that saxby was there, clearid, cleareyed, disciplined, and discrete, has given our families and americans considerable comfort. I appreciate your service. Finally, he is willing to step up on this issue of our National Debt. This is not an easy issue and he joined with some colleagues here to promote some proposals. Again, colleagues who are leaving have all done this. Tom coburn, mike johanns. I will always have a great deal of respect for the way he has handled that issue as well. Youaps despite everything have heard about him today, his greatest accomplishment has yet to be mentioned. And that is the fact that he played golf with the president of the United States and managed to hit a hole in one. The press report from the day says two things that are interesting. First, it says that he hit a holeinone on the south course. The son of the south chose to use the south course, of cours