again, read walter isakson. why -- isaacson. some of the greatest scientists, he talks about einstein, and then he talks about steve jobs. some of the greatest scientists, they were musicians, they were philosophers, they knew literature. einstein talks about the fact that knowledge -- meaning scientific knowledge -- is limited, but imagination encircles the world. steve jobs, when he gives up university, this was no paypal perp to pay him, you know, to drop college, you know? but he then goes and audits in calligraphy, the most useless of all -- [laughter] even more useless than literature today. [laughter] and he said that out of calligraphy he got the logo for apple. don't think that this country will produce steve jobs or bill gates who should have just kept, you know, to health and not entered which he doesn't know anything about, which is humanities, you know? the whole point is you won't produce these people. if you do not have an all-rounded education. and you won't produce good citizens, because what does it mean to be

isakson: mr. president, i rise to pay tribute to my friend, saxby chambliss. i will have to admit to you this is a speech i never wanted to make. i never wanted to make it because we've had a wonderful relationship in this body for the last 10 years, we've done everything together, he's had my back, i've had his back, he's a great friend and i'll miss him. but i'm not a selfish guy. he married one of the finest women i've ever known, julianne, one of the best friends my wife has. i know he's leaving us and i'll miss the crutch i've used. she is getting her saxby back and she and her family and those grandkids he loves so much, that's exactly what saxby wants to do. georgia has had some great senators. richard russell, really the master of the senate, zell miller, the former governor of georgia, a friend of mine and mentor to our state and sam nunn one of the finest in national defense and foreign policy our state ever offered. saxby will be the fourth on the mount rushmore of georgia senators who served georgia with distinction and with class. i want to tell s

to this day, senator isakson carries a picture of one of the sago miners. it is not in the wallet that he's carrying today, it's in the other wallet that's back in atlanta, i don't care where it is, that picture is in his wallet every single day. we knew that as public officials, compromising and really leading meant governing, which is why we were there. answering the needs of our country is our responsibility, and we do that best when we work shoulder to shoulder. it was working shoulder to shoulder when we set our country on a path to future innovation. a few years ago america's domination in our innovation, our inventions and creative problem solving was eroding, and we all knew it. we needed to act. we needed to reinvigorate our leadership in those areas and keep our jobs and our future more secure. we answered that call with the bipartisan compromise that delivered the america competes reauthorization act. i will never forget that. this legislation made historic investments in science, basic research, and science, technology, engineering and math educ

let me say i appreciate the fine words of senators chain, chambliss, isakson, there are a few others that will weigh in and express a thought or two and i can't express how much i appreciate it. i would like to offer a few thoughts, my farewell thoughts, today. i rise first of all to convey a very deep and sincere appreciation to the people of a really great state, the state of nebraska. they've entrusted me with the high privilege and the solemn responsibility of representing them in this body. i am honored to have served as a senator from nebraska and i hope and i pray i have done so in a manner that upholds the high standards that nebraskans have rightly established for their elected officeholders. madam president, if i could turn back the clock 32 years, i'd just do it again from my first day as a county commissioner throughout my service as a lincoln city council member, as mayor of our capital city, lincoln, as the governor of nebraska and president bush's cabinet, and now as a united states senator. no doubt about it, if i could turn back the clock, i'd just do it again. i am

isakson: mr. president, i rise to pay tribute to my friend, saxby chambliss. i will have to admit to you this is a speech i never wanted to make. i never wanted to make it because we've had a wonderful relationship in this body for the last 10 years, we've done everything together, he's had my back, i've had his back, he's a great friend and i'll miss him. but i'm not a selfish guy. he married one of the finest women i've ever known, julianne, one of the best friends my wife has. i know he's leaving us and i'll miss the crutch i've used. she is getting her saxby back and she and her family and those grandkids he loves so much, that's exactly what saxby wants to do. georgia has had some great senators. richard russell, really the master of the senate, zell miller, the former governor of georgia, a friend of mine and mentor to our state and sam nunn one of the finest in national defense and foreign policy our state ever offered. saxby will be the fourth on the mount rushmore of georgia senators who served georgia with distinction and with class. i want to tell s

to this day senator isakson carry as picture of one of the sago miners. it is not in the wallet that he is carrying today but in the other wallet that is back in atlanta. i don't care where it is. that picture is in his wallet every single day. we knew that as public officials compromising and really leading meant governing which is why we were there. answering the needs of our country is our responsibility and we do that best when we work shoulder to shoulder. it was working shoulder to shoulder when we set our country on a path to future innovation. a few years ago, america's domination in our innovation, in our inventions and creative problem solving was eroding and we all knew it. we needed to act. we needed to reinvigorate our leadership in those areas and keep our jobs and future more secure. we answered that call with the bipartisan compromise that delivered the america competes reauthorization act. i will never forget that. this legislation made historic investments in science, basic research and science, technology, engineering, math education. s

senator isakson really put his finger on it. it's just the way he is. you're just naturally drawn to him. and i think you could talk to any of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and they would tell you the same thing. integrity, honesty, intelligence, somebody you can work with, somebody who cares, somebody who's always got the best interest of the american people at heart. i had the opportunity to work with him on the farm bill, and i was counting on senator coburn to jump in there and do it with him. but when that didn't happen right away -- i'm kidding a little bit, but we couldn't have had a farm bill without senator chambliss. and when you think how difficult it is to move legislation like that, particularly over the course of the past year, and you realize that a farm bill really isn't so much a republican-democrat thing. it really isn't. i mean, that's not how if you look at how a farm bill works, that's not the makeup. it really comes down to people who know and understand agriculture, who understand the importance of a good farm bill

members of the help committee for their support of this bill but especially senator murray, senator isakson for taking the lead to get this bill done, along with senator enzi, senator alexander and me. and while i'm mentioning the help committee, let me thank all members of the help committee for a very productive last two years during which we passed 24 bills signed into law by the president. important bills dealing with things like drug track and tracing, compounding drugs, the work force investment act i just mentioned, the child care development block grant, newborn screening act, and many more. and i see him here on the floor, and i want to publicly again thank senator lamar alexander for being a great partner in all these efforts. senator alexander will be taking the helm of this great committee in the next congress. senator alexander certainly has the background to lead this committee, but he also combines that background with a keen mind and a good heart, and i wish him continued success as the new chairman of the help committee. the fourth issue that i hope future senates will take

let me say i appreciate the fine words of senators chain, chambliss, isakson, there are a few others that will weigh in and express a thought or two and i can't express how much i appreciate it. i would like to offer a few thoughts, my farewell thoughts, today. i rise first of all to convey a very deep and sincere appreciation to the people of a really great state, the state of nebraska. they've entrusted me with the high privilege and the solemn responsibility of representing them in this body. i am honored to have served as a senator from nebraska and i hope and i pray i have done so in a manner that upholds the high standards that nebraskans have rightly established for their elected officeholders. madam president, if i could turn back the clock 32 years, i'd just do it again from my first day as a county commissioner throughout my service as a lincoln city council member, as mayor of our capital city, lincoln, as the governor of nebraska and president bush's cabinet, and now as a united states senator. no doubt about it, if i could turn back the clock, i'd just do it again. i am

isakson: mr. president, i have the greatest of regarder my two colleagues from the state of maryland and respect their passion for this nominee but i rise to support delaying the advancement of carolyn colvin for the social security administration. i want to tell you why. my reasons somewhat address some of the reasons expressed pour urgency. on july 29 i interviewed her in my office. as i do with every nominee that will talk to me. it was two days after the 2014 trustees report of the social security administration had come out, a report that talked about the disability trust fund being in danger by 2016. i asked her questions about what she would recommend to us to fix the unfunded mandates that would be coming in the social security administration. her answers were at best anybody and at worst nonexistent. i was one of the two votes senator cardin referred to in the committee because i didn't falafel like i got the passionate answer from her as someone who was going to run the social security c

committee along with johnny isakson from georgia. i have a challenge for you. i'm going to be objecting to this bill because it throws money and doesn't solve the real problem. and i know most of my colleagues disagree with me on that, but i actually did the work. i started a year before all the v.a. scandals started, i've documented nearly a thousand deaths at the hands of lack of our oversight. the lack of us holding the v.a. accountable. people are going to make mistakes all the time. we're the ones that have no excuse for not holding the v.a. accountable. our veterans deserve the very best. we cannot eliminate all the tragedies that occur with war. some of the most remarkable things happen during this bill. i have a military liaison who had significant injuries as he served this country. he got targeted by the veterans groups that wanted to pass this bill. talk about dishonoring a veteran? you're going after my m.l.a., who served this country with distinction, whose had multiple, multiple operations because of his injuries secondary to burns in his service