that's heidi heitkamp. she is a leader. whatever challenge she has overcome in her life -- health, representing a state that always isn't easy when you look at it politically for a democrat, the challenges she had bucking our own party, taking things on -- every single moment she overcome those challenges because heidi heitkamp is a leader. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, as i listened to senator heitkamp's farewell remarks to us today, i could not help but think of the fact that she used her final speech on the senate floor, not just to talk about her accomplishments, of which there are many, but to inspire us. it was a call to action. it was a call to the better angels of ourselves to work together in the interests of our country. mr. president, maine and north dakota are separated by a great distance, but the people of our two states have in common the qualities about of hard work -- the qualities of h

heitkamp: oh, yeah. ironically and foolishly, i thought if i had a list of accomplishments, if i did all these things i said i was going to do, that mattered. it did not matter. >> let's talk about the campaign. could you have done anything differently? sen. heitkamp: we always make mistakes in campaigns. there are things, looking back, i wish had not happened. at the end of the day, after the kavanaugh vote, it got to be too big of a lift. >> what led to that decision? sen. heitkamp: i worked the process and had to make a decision whether this person was qualified for the supreme court. i watched. it has been documented why i did what i did. there is not a moment i regret that vote. >> could the democrats have done anything differently in terms the process? sen. heitkamp: absolutely. so could the republicans. it was two sides of the same coin. every time anyone wants to examine every piece of archived record, are we going to do that ? the democrats are going to say, we don't have to give those records.

heitkamp: someone asked me that yesterday. i thought, after i gave my farewell speech, write your farewell speech on your first day and live by it. the aspirational every day about what you can do. with smalltisfied things. you are here to do good things and great things. it is goals and aspirations and what you did. senator, thank you for your time. with daver interview brat who lost his reelection bid in november. nationalme on to the .tage by defeating eric cantor how do you do that? >> it is not all clear. people and iof

heitkamp: oh, yeah. ironically and foolishly, i thought if i had a list of accomplishments, if i did all these things i said i was going to do, that would in fact matter, it did not matter. >> let's talk about the campaign. could you have done anything differently? >> we always make mistakes in campaigns. there are things i wish had not happened. at the end of the day, after the kavanaugh vote, it got to be too big of a lift. >> what led to that decision? sen. heitkamp: i had to make a determination on whether this person was qualified for the supreme court. i watched and it has been well documented why i did what i did. there is not a moment i regret that vote. >> could the democrats have done anything differently in terms of the process? sen. heitkamp: absolutely and so should have the republicans. it was two sides of the same coin. every time anyone wants to examine every piece of archived record, are we going to do that ? if the democrats are in charge they will say we don't have to give you those re

heitkamp: i thought i hope i can get through this. i was so grateful that so many of my colleagues came to cheer me on.

senator heitkamp lost her bid in november. this is half an hour in 2000 i was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and after my treatment my oncologist told me you have had a chance of livine than ten years. think about that. so i knew right away i had a chance to use the time god gave me for good and noble purposes to try to do the things i always thought needed to be done in this country and it's an important lesson for all of you. the greatest gift you have is not your bank account. the greatest gift you have is the amount of time you have left on this earth and what you do with it. and i chose to come to the senate. i think when we have a world of options and make this choice that is so important that we come here with purpose not just to be named a senator or for office but for purpose. so the truth is i'm not supposed to be here. i'm from north dakota it is a town of 90 people. when i was growing up my family was one tenth the population. [laughter] my dad was a world war ii veteran who left the education, read the p

senator heitkamp: thank you. in 2000 i was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and after treatment my oncologist told me you have a 28% of chance living more than 10 years. think about that. i knew right away that i had a chance to use what time god gave me for good and noble purposes. to try and do the things that i always thought needed to be done in this country and it's an important lesson for all of you. the greatest gift you have is not your bank account. your greatest gift that you have is the amount of time you have left on this earth. and what you do with that time. i chose for good or bad to come to the united states senate. i think when we have a world of options and we make this choice it is so important that we come here with purpose. not just to be named senator not just for the trappings of office but for purpose. the truth is i'm not supposed to be here. i'm from a town of 90 people in north dakota. when i was growing up my family was one-tenth of the population. my dad was a world war ii vet

then, outgoing democratic senators claire mccaskill and heidi heitkamp reflect on their elections, their time in congress and what their rty needs to do next. plus, the last ship in therr mediteean helping migrants ceases operations due to political pressure by european governments, leaving many stranded. >> the aquarius has saved about 30,000 lives over the last three years. people that without th dedicated search and rescue capability on the mediterranean iesea would otherwise haveas they undertook that perilous journey. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pr by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic perfmance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, anthe advancement international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions:in anviduals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. u

that means that around one-tenth of the town were heitkamps. inside the household the lack of space meant that heidi's room was also her brother's room and also the laundry room. according to her sisters, the presence of the lawn did i machine had -- laundry machine had almost no effect on her. she'd read and read and reasoned rarely if ever did she participate in the washing and folding of the heitkamp laundry. her siblings didn't seem to mind, as julie heitkamp said about growing up with heidi, she was so good, it was annoying. it turned out that the book worm from a small town in north dakota was destined for great things. when she worked for senator kent conrad, the outstanding democrat from north dakota, he realized the same goodness in heidi that her sisters recognized, and he encouraged her to run for state auditor at the age of 28. she didn't win that race, but she ran again for state tax commissioner and won and again for attorney general and won, fighting on behalf of sexual assault survivors and against the abusive practices of the t

democratic senator heidi heitkamp and dave brat t who were both defeated and darrell issa who is retiring after serve 18 years in the house. >> there was no interest in a bipartisan tax bill. we could have done some reforms of the healthcare bill. there was no interest in doing reforms of healthcare because it was all about winning politically and not governing in a sustainable way, and those are regrets that i have. >> ideas matter to me and you try to get ideas in the press and they don't care. it's worse than they don't care. they're against your ideas and they put them down. they cannot name a substitute that is better. they don't have an alternative hypothesis and that's just for me an intellectual fraud. and i think that's what the press is engaged in right now. >> most people think term limits sound like a good idea. first of all, leadership has no term limit us. nancy pelosi will probably be over 100 by the time she finishes her last time as speaker if nothing changes the challenge is that all of leadership has no term limits. well, chairmen have term limits and back whiff newt gi

and my opponent used that vey effectively against me. >> woodruff: senator heitkamp, you were talking about the tariffs. you have farmers in the state of north dakota. soybean is affected by the tariffs. yo.made that argume it wasn't enough. >> well, i think in part because of the wayy sobeans are marketed, about half of them were already sold, so it wasn't going toffect th year's crop, and we knew that. but i think more importantly wthe trade aid package, people felt like he had their back. the preside was going to mak it right. and, you know, people trust this president in rural america, even against what is obvious to me their political interests oron their ic interests. >> woodruff: you said, voters in your state voted again their n economic interests? >> that always happens.> >oodruff: but that says the voters don't understand what's going on? >> they have different priority >> and,lso, i think it's very rnfair to ever look down you nose at these voters. they are frustrated. they have worked hard. they've played by the rules, and they're not doing as well as their parents. they d

i yield the floor. . >> senator heitkamp's speech from yesterday. we'll leave there and go to the senate.

. >> north dakota senator heidi heitkamp lost her reelection bid to kevin cramer. series of interviews with outgoing members of congress, we talk about her six years in the senate. this is 30 minutes. one of theheitkamp, speeches in the video library, speech, it got rather emotional. what were you thinking?

democratic senator heidi heitkamp and republican representative -- and darrell issa who is retiring after serving 18 years in the house. >> i think we could've gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in doing a bipartisan tax bill. i think we could have done reforms of the health care bill. there was no interest in doing reforms of health care because it was about winning politically and not governing in a sustainable way. those are regrets i have. >> ideas matter to me and you'd try to get ideas into the press. they do not care. they are against your ideas and they put them down. they cannot name a substitute that is better. they do not happen alternative hypothesis. that is an intellectual fraud. i think that is what the press is engaged in. >> most people think term limit sound like a good idea. leadership has no term limits. nancy pelosi will probably be over 100 by the times she finishes her last time as speaker if nothing changes. the challenge is that all leadership has no term limits. chairman have term limits. all the way back to newt gingrich, what hap

senator heitkamp: thank you. in 2000 i was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and after treatment my oncologist told me you have a 28% of chance living more than 10 years. think about that. i knew right away that i had a chance to use what time god gave me for good and noble purposes. to try and do the things that i always thought needed to be done in this country and it's an important lesson for all of you. the greatest gift you have is not your bank account. your greatest gift that you have is

then, outgoing democratic senators claire mccaskill and heidi heitkamp reflect on their elections, theire in congress and what their rty needs to do next. plus, the last ship in therr mediteean helping migrants ceases operations due to political pressure by european governments, leaving many stranded. >> the aquarius has saved about 30,000 lives over the last three years. people that without th

heitkamp: -- rep. brat: i was fairly optimistic. i was not a utopian. james madison and smith, scottish enlightenment, calvinist protestant countries were not known to be -- we are called the frozen chosen. i thought we could make a lot of progress. economic growth, regulation, we have made some improvements. you still have the border caravan. 30 years of policy. agreed with it, e-verify -- now the left has moved way off. they are unrecognizable. jfk could not get elected right now. faith inhis catholic public. lying.u.s. heat -- line. he would not stand a prayer. they say it is far right. it seems to me objectively, the goalposts have shifted on the left. >> any votes you regret? rep. brat: not really. i think i voted on principle the whole time. i got 100% on the freedom indices. foundation, bill reagan stool. ool.he reagan st small businesses, i stuck up for the small guy. i feel pretty good about the votes. my constituents sent me to keep their word. they are stunned. he kept his word. i am proud of that. >> when you consider the race, what were you

heitkamp: i thought i hope i can get through this.

eastern, conversations with three retiring members of congress, democratic senator heidi heitkamp, and republican representatives dave brat, both defeated in the, and after serving the 18 years in the house. >> we could have gotten a bipartisan tax bill fast. there was no interest in doing a bipartisan tax bill. we could have done some reform to the health care bill. there was no interest in reforms of health care, because it was about winning politically and not governing in a sustainable way. those are regrets that i have. >> ideas matter to me. you try to get ideas out in the press and they don't care. and are against your ideas they put them down. they cannot name a substitute that is better. they don't have an alternative hypothesis. that is an intellectual fraud. i think that's what the press is engaged in right now. term limitsle think sound like a good idea. leadership has no term limits. nancy pelosi will probably be over 100 by the time she finishes her last time as speaker if nothing changes. the challenge is that all of leadership has no term limits. chairman have term limi

veterans day service, and he came up to me it was before the vote he came up to me and said senator heitkamp, i want a tax break. i said i hear that a lot. he said not at the expense of my kids. he's stillha a patriot. he still knows what it means to sacrifice so they need to be responsible in how they spend their money and i'm grateful that my friend is here. we toiled away to try to make in spite of erotic logicalde differences and how we view our worldview we still believe this government needs to be efficient and effective and spend money the right way and we marveled at the one to care about it than to just show up for an occasional meeting. c i hope you find an equal and willing partner in your work because i know that for you this is a moral imperative to spend every dollar that is sent here the right way and with a more efficient way and to do things right and when he can tell the american public thatcaic we are spending their dollars responsibly that we are making the right choices we will have many more options and we will grow the, reputation not only of the united states governme

he came up to me and said senator heitkamp. i said yes, sir. he said i want a tax break. i said i want it a lot. he said but not at the expense of my kids. he is still a patriot, that vietnam veteran. he still knows what it means to sacrifice for the nextgen ration. so the federal government needs to be responsible with how they spend their money. i'm grateful that my friend james is here. we toiled away. make even in spite of our differences how we view our world view on issues. this government needs to be efficient and spend money the right way. we marvel that no one seems to care about it any more than just show up for an occasional meeting. that work can't stop. i hope you find in your work an equal and willing partner and i know for you this is a moral imperative to spend every dollar that gets sent here the right way and the most efficient way and when we can tell the american public we are spending their dollars responsibly, that we are making the right choices we will have many, many more options and we will grow the reputation not only over the united states gove

heitkamp: in 2000 i was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. my oncologist told me you have a 28% chance of living more than ten years. think about that. so i knew right away that i had a chance to use what time god gave me for good and noble purposes. to try and do the things that i always thought needed to be done in this country. it's an important lesson for all of you. the greatest gift you have is not your bank account. your greatest gift that you have is the amount of time you have left on this earth and what you do with that time. and i chose for good or bad to come to the united states senate. i think when we have a world of options and we make this choice, it is so important that we come here with purpose, not just to be named a senator, not just for the trappings of office, but for purpose. so the truth is i'm not supposed to be here. i'm from matador, north dakota, a town of 90 people. when i was growing up, my family was the one-tenth population. i just have to say. my dad was a world war ii veteran who loved education. read the pap

he came up to me and he said, senator heitkamp -- i said, yes, sir? he said, i want a tax break. i said, i hear that a lot. and he said, but not at the expense of my kids. he's still a patriot, that vietnam veteran. he still knows what it means to sacrifice for the next generation. so the federal government needs to be responsible in how they spend their money. i'm grateful that my friend james lankford is here because we toiled at way at government efficiency. we toiled away to try to make -- in spite of our ideological differences many times, in spite of how we view -- our world view on issues, we believe this government needs to be efficient, it needs to be effective, he needs to spend money the right way. we marveled that no one seemed to care about it except to show up for an occasional meeting. that work can't stop and i hope you find an equal and willing partner in your work, senator lankford, but a i know for you that this is a moral impairive, to spend every dollar the right and most efficient way, to do things right. when we can tell the american public that we are spen

senator heitkamp lost her bid in november. this is half an hour in 2000 i was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and after my treatment my oncologist told me you have had a chance of livine than ten years. think about t

democratic senator heidi heitkamp and republican representative dave brat, both defeated in the midterms, and darrell issa, retiring after serving 18 years in the house. >> we could have gotten the tax bill passed. there was no interest in a bipartisan tax bill. we could have done some reforms of the health care bill. and there was no interest in doing reforms of health care, because it was about winning and not governing in a sustainable way. those are regret i have. >> ideas matter to me. you try to get ideas in the press and they don't care. it's worse than they don't care, they are against your ideas and they put them down. they cannot name a substitute that is better. they don't have an alternative hypothesis. that is an intellectual fraud. that's what the press is engaged in, unfortunately. >> most people think term limits sound like a good idea. leadership has no term limits. will probably be over 100 by the time she finishes her last time as speaker if nothing changes. that oldenge is leadership has no term limits. chairman have term limits. all the way back with newt wegrich, wh

then a series of congressional exit interviews starting with senator heidi heitkamp from north dakotahe government shutdown will continue past the christmas holiday as the senate and house have ended their sessions. no legislative business is scheduled until thursday. watch live house coverage on c-span and the sene

i think it hurt joe donnelly and heidi heitkamp, who also lost their seats. their votes so much, but because of the spectacle and the unfair treatment of both judge kavanaugh and christine ford, who asked specifically that her allegations be kept confidential and be handled in a closed session. >> martha: you want to st. lawrence university, as did i. a letter was circulated, 1500, something like that, the festers and alumni, wrote a scathing letter saying they wanted to rescind the two honorary degrees they had given you at your university. in the past had heralded you for your bipartisan decisions. >> it was a very painful experience, because i loved my time at st. lawrence. when i was at st. lawrence, free and open debate was encouraged, diverse viewpoints were welcomed, and i could not help but think what has happened, and our students who have more conservative viewpoints discriminated against by professors who say there is only one way to think? did they not respect the process that i went through, which i think everyone would concede was extremely thor

that is why i join senator heitkamp in introducing savannah's act earlier this year. named after savannah gray wind, a pregnant 22-year-old north dakota woman and member of the spirit lake nation who was murdered in 2017. savannah's act would require the department of justice to finally keep a nationwide database of missing and murder native women. this commonsense -- this is a common sense, it passed the senate unanimously last month but one member, one member of this body has decided to prevent us from passing savannah's act and the rest has can pitch -- capitulated. one member standing in the way of finally doing the right thing for native women, american women, women who are victims of crime. shameful. . shame on this body for allowing this and not taking this last week of the 115th congress to finally bring about some ustice to these cases. now, one thing that this body, the 115th congress, has been really good for, in the face of tragedy, has been moments of silence. and that is why today i want to take some time that we have left to have a moment of silence. mr

heidi heitkamp beat the odds to get here. a breast cancer survivor. the lesson she learned from that experience was to use what shiem hea has been given for good and noble purposes, and she chose for good or for bad to come to the united states senate and has served a noble purpose with noble actions. we are so grateful that she did. heidi has been a tireless champion of north dakota throughout her time in the senate. she worked hard to advance opportunities for native americans and veterans, to boost funding for flood protection, and to secure the northern border, to name just a few. she and i worked together on the banking, housing, and urban affairs committee. most recently, i was particularly appreciative of her insight on proxy access and her support for my legislation on this matter, s. 3614, the corporate governance fairness act. heidi has also been a relentless advocate for a functioning export-import bank, an issue critical to many north dakotans. her voice and insight will be missed on this issue and so many others that come before the banki

heidi heitkamp lost in north dakota.eady receding to the coast, even more so now. so can the democratic party be viable without appealing to the interior of the country where you live and where you represent? >> i don't know how you do that. i mean, i was fortunate enough -- i got more votes in this midterm than any democrat in indiana in modern history. but it wasn't quite enough, because the president came three times in about the last week, six times in about the last month and a half. and said this is about him. and he said, if you don't vote, basically, you're betraying me. and we have not made enough of a connection. i work like a dog nonstop to make that connection. but that the people of my state understand that culturally, we want to make sure you succeed. that we're going to fight to make sure that, for instance, on student loans, we'll keep the interest rate at the same rate as a housing loan. but when you talk medicare for all like i heard on the panel earlier, you start losing the people in my state. when we

the bill w was sponsored by sesenator heheidi heitkamp of nh dakota and passed unanimously in the senate this month but goodlatte's role as chair of the judiciary committee allows him to block voting on it in the house. senator heitkakamp is exiting te senate after losing g her reelection bid last month, but republican senator lisa murkowski of alaska has vowed to bring the bill back in the new year. the bill is called savanna's act, named after savanna lafontaine-greywind, a member of the spirit lake tribe who was brutally murderered last year wn she was eight months pregnant -- her unborn baby cut out of her womb while she was reportedly still alive. the failure to pass savanna's act comes as funding expired for the violencece against womomen t , which is aimed at h helping women whwho've sururvived domesc assault,and sexual amid the o ongoing g government shutdown.. in mississipippi, the e family a 37-year-old african n american woman whwho died sunday while in jail is demanding answers and say they suspect foul play. lanekia michelle brown was arrested during a traffic stop in novemb

we'll talk later about claire claire mccaskill and heidi heitkamp, that we need to pay attention to the moderates. this country is full of moderates. just because some progressives are screaming at you loudly doesn't mean we are a party that wants to abolish ice. that's how we stand for. there are other ways to secure our border than putting up a wall, that can be used, frankly, as a racist dog whistle on the campaign trail. that's what they object to. >> melissa: morgan, real quick. >> morgan: i have an excessive shoe collection. if they don't take a radical position, i will eat this farragamo. [laughter] >> melissa: the presses inside one of the signing ceremonies inside the white house. i will be willing to bet good money that the president will not be willing to resist making some, about what's going on right now with this thing over the border wall and funding. as soon as you get that video, that take playback, we are going to play to the second we have it. meanwhile, growing divisions among democrats the head of the new congress. democratic senator at claire mccaskill, who lost he

i'd like to express my thanks and appreciation for the work of senators donnelly and heitkamp and corporate and help over the years, so thanks to all of them. we discussed the sec's enforcement program in previous hearings in a recent meeting, chairman clayton, as your pilot the sec has worked hard to return money to harm investors. i agree that's an important goal but enforcement can begin and end with protecting wealthy investors. ten years ago today bernie madoff was arrested this is china ponta scheme was disposed expos but there's no doubt ponzi schemes still exist. your report shows sec is focused on finding them and punishing the wrongdoers as you should. we also know a decade ago bernie madoff was far from the biggest threat to most families. it was wall street firms that are just wrecked our economy and just as sec will continue to pursue ponzi schemes must also continue to pursue in many ways the harder, the compex cases against the big banks when they break the rules and threaten families, homes and savings. i've said on this new number of times i sit code 44105 where we live in

easternday at 8:00 p.m. , conversations with three retiring members of congress, democratic senator heidi heitkamp and dave brat, who were both defeated in the midterms. >> i think we could have gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in doing a bipartisan tax bill. i think we could have done some reforms of the health care bill. there was no interest in doing reforms of health care, because it was all about winning politically, and not governing in a sustainable way. those are regrets that i have. >> ideas matter to me. he tried to get ideas out in the press and they don't care. and it's worse that they don't care, they are against your ideas, and put them down. they cannot name a substitute that is better, right.

[inaudible conversations] >> in her verbal speech north dakota senator heidi heitkamp discussed her time innocent and some of the causes she is advocated. she lost a reelection bid in november. this is half an hour. you.ank in 2000 i was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. i got done with treatment my oncologist told me you have 28% chance of living more than ten years. i loved that. so i knew right away that i do chance to use what time god gave me a for good and noble purpose, to try into the things that i i was not needed to be done in this country. and it's an important lesson for all of you. the greatest gift you have is not your bank account, your greatest gift that you have is the amount of time you have left on this earth. and what you do with that time. and i chose for good or bad to come to the united states senate. i think, i think when have a world of options and we make this choice, it is so important that we come here with purpose. not just to be named a a senat. not just for the office but for purpose. so the truth is i'm not supposed to be here. i am from north dako

at 8:00 eastern conversations with three retiring members of congress, democratic senator heidi heitkampnd republican representative dave bratt who were both defeated in the midterms and their allies the who is retiring after serving 18 years in the house. >> we could have gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in doing a bipartisan tax bill. i think we could have done some reforms of the healthcare bill. there was no interest in doing reforms because it was all about winning politically and not governing in a sustainable way. those are regrets that i have. >> ideas matter to me and you try to get ideas in the press and they don't care. they are against your ideas and they put them down and they cannot name a substitute that is better. they don't have an alternative hypothesis. it is an intellectual pride -- fraud and that is what the president did. >> most people think term limits are like a good idea. leadership has no term limits. nancy pelosi will probably be over 100 by the time she finishes as speaker if nothing changes. the challenge is all of leadershi

. >>> saturday at 8 pm eastern, conversations with retiring members of congress, heidi heitkamp, dave brat, who were both defeated in the midterms and another who is retiring after serving 18 years in the house. >> i think we could've gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in doing a bipartisan textile.i think we could've done some reforms of the healthcare bill, there was no interest in doing reforms with healthcare because it was all about winning, politically. and not governing in a sustainable way. and those are regrets i have. >> ideas matter to me and you try to get ideas out here in the press and they don't care and it's worse that they don't care they are against your ideas and they put them down. and they cannot name a substitute that is better. they don't have an alternative hypothesis. so that is an intellectual fraud and i think that is what the press is engaged in right now. unfortunately. >> most people think term limits so make a good idea, personal leadership has no term limit. nancy pelosi will probably be over 100 by the time she finishes

heidiatic senator heitkamp and republican representative dave bratt, who the both defeated in midterms, and daryl ifa, who is retiring after serving 18 years house. >> i think we could have gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in a bipartisan tax bill. i think we could have done some the health care bill. there was no interest in doing reforms of health care, because all about winning politically and not governing in a sustainable way. those are regrets that i have. >> ideas matter to me. get ideas out, in the press, and they don't care. they don'trse than care. they're against your ideas, and they put them down. cannot name a substitute that's better, right? alternativeave an hypothesis. so that's just, for me, an fraud.ctual i think that's what the press is engaged in right now, unfortunately. >> most people think term limits sound like a good idea. first of all, leadership has no term limits. nancy pelosi will probably be over 100 by the time she asishes her last time speaker, if nothing changes. i mean, the challenge is that of leadership has no term l

i've had the privilege with serving with both the speakers i heard today, heidi heitkamp from north dakota and senator donnelly from indiana. i want to say they represent the best of the senate. all of us are proud to be here. all of us are proud for the opportunity we have. but they are two special people, they are special because they have a smile on their face. they're special because they're very smart. they're special because they know how to play the game in a bipartisan way but not block things but help them pass. i've enjoyed getting to know joe and heidi. i'm going to miss them a lot. america is proud to have a great son like joe, a great daughter like heidi. i'm h glad to have them cross my way so i could become a friend of theirs. god bless you for your service. thank you very much. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from inn. mr. young: i rise to recognize my distinguished colleague joe donnelly for his years of distinguished service to the state of indiana. i also want to commend his family for their dedication. i know this is a team effort in public

i was particularly proud that another provision championed by myself and my friend, senator heitkamp, was included that would allow trade promotion funding for agriculture products to be used in cuba. this is a big win for our farmers and ranchers who have consistently been working to open up more access to the cuban market. cuba imports approximately 80% of its food, and our farmers and ranchers produce the highest quality, lowest cost and safest food in the world. additionally, i welcome the inclusion of my provision that clarifies the definition of livestock to include live fish for purpose of the department of transportation's hours of service regulations. as well as reauthorization of the program which does so much to help our veterans who want to get started in agriculture and reauthorization of the dealt regional -- delta regional authority. the farm bill conference report includes a true investment in conservation to help the waterfowl in arkansas. and i was excited to see the century farms act that senator murphy and i authored was also a part of the package. with the approva

this bill, which was introduced by senators pat roberts and heidi heitkamp, re-authorizes grants to state offices of rural health. i also need to thank our house champion of this effort, representative mullin, a veryable member of the health subcommittee. this legislation has already passed the senate and today we have the opportunity to pass it on the floor of the house, and it goes down to the president for his signature. the majority of counties in the united states are rural. while urban and suburban counties are growing in population, certainly in my own community, back in the 26th district of texas, we have a significant percentage of the population living in rural areas. citizens of rural america reap many benefits of their communities, but they are also faced with unique challenges, particularly when it comes to health care. s. 2278 will enable states to maintain and improve upon health care in rural areas by re-authorizing grants to state offices of rural health care. grantees will be required to maintain a clearinghouse for collecting and disseminating information on rural healt

eastern, conversations with three retiring members of congress, democratic senator heidi heitkamp, and republican representatives dave brat, who were both defeated in the midterms and daniel issa, retiring after serving 18 years in the house. >>i think we could have gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in doing a bipartisan tax bill. i think we could have done some reforms of the health care bill. there was no interest in doing reforms of health care. because it was all about winning politically. and not governing in a sustainable way. and those are regrets that i have. >> ideas matter to me. and you try to get ideas out up here in the press, and they don't care. and it is worse than they don't care, they're against your ideas. and they put them down. and they cannot name a substitute that is better. right? they don't have an alternative hypothesis. and so that's just, for me, an intellectual fraud. and i think that's what the press is engaged in right now, unfortunately. >> most people think term limits sound like a good idea. first of all, leadership has

already given speeches in this chamber about my four friends, departing democratic colleagues senators heitkamp, mccaskill, nelson, and donnelly. and now i rise to recognize my republican colleagues who are leaving the senate. let me start with orrin hatch who is truly one of a kind. out of 100 senators, none of us can say that our great grandfather founded the town of vernal, utah, home of the dinosaur roundup rodeo. none of us can say that we served as a mormon bishop or that we started off working as a janitor to pay for school and then went on to become the most senior republican in the united states senate. and none of us can say that we moonlight as a singer, songwriter, and famed lyricist whose catalog includes the classics "heal our land,"" eight days of hanukkah," and his ode to month, "skating with my baby." orrin hatch's songs have been featured in the movies "oceans 12" and" stuart little 2." i know senator hatch is proudest of his family, his wife elaine, six children, 23 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren. senator hatch and i have worked together for a long period of time.

heidi heitkamp and republican brat, whotive dave were both defeated in the midterms, and darrell issa, who is retiring. >> i think we could have gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in doing a bipartisan tax. i think we could have done some reforms of the health care bill. there was no interest in doing reforms of health-care because it was all about winning politically. and not governing in a sustainable way, and those are regrets that i have. >> ideas matter to me. and you try to get ideas out up in the press, and they don't care. it is worse than they don't care. they are against your ideas and they put them down. and they cannot name a sense that is better. have an alternative hypothesis, so that is just, for me, intellectual fraud, and i think that is what the press is engaged in right now, unfortunately. >> most people think tournaments sell my good idea -- term limits sell micro good idea. nancy pelosi will be over 100 by the time she finishes her last term as speaker if nothing changes. the challenge is that all of leadership has no term limits. c