{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2020-12-31-pt1-PgS7990", "2020-12-31", 116, 2, null, null, "TRIBUTE TO GARY HERBERT", "SENATE", "SENATE", "TRIBUTETO", "S7990", "S7991", "[{\"name\": \"Mike Lee\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Mitch McConnell\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "166 Cong. Rec. S7990", "Congressional Record, Volume 166 Issue 223 (Thursday, December 31, 2020)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 223 (Thursday, December 31, 2020)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S7990-S7991]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                        TRIBUTE TO GARY HERBERT\n\n  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, I stand today to honor my friend Gary\nHerbert, Governor of the State of Utah for the last 12 years, who,\nafter a long career in public service, is now embarking on a really\nwell-deserved, hard-earned retirement.\n  He served the State of Utah and has done so with great enthusiasm and\ndedication and spirit, and I am grateful to have worked alongside him\nthroughout his tenure serving our great State.\n  Gary Herbert was born in American Fork, UT, and grew up in Orem. He\nserved a 2-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints on the east coast and later attended Brigham Young University,\nmy alma mater.\n  He first began his public service in college, serving in the Utah\nArmy National Guard for 6 years and eventually becoming a staff\nsergeant. After his time in the National Guard, he set up a real estate\nfirm and was very successful, eventually becoming the president of the\nUtah Association of Realtors. He also served as president of the Utah\nAssociation of Counties, by the way.\n  Starting in 1990, he served as a commissioner on the Utah County\nCommission. He served there for 14 years, and it was at that point that\nhe began his statewide service within Utah. You see, in 2004, when Jon\nHuntsman ran for the Governor's seat, Gary became his running mate,\nrunning alongside Huntsman as his Lieutenant Governor, with the pair\ngoing on to win the race in November.\n  It was then that I first got to know Gary Herbert personally, when I\nwas hired to be Governor Huntsman's general counsel. One of my first\nmemories of Gary Herbert--which, to me, seems like it was just the day\nbefore yesterday--occurred when we all began moving into the Governor's\noffice suite, just the day before Herbert and Huntsman were sworn into\noffice.\n  Gary came in and provided us all with a warm welcome, but he didn't\nstop at the welcome. He offered really sound and heartfelt advice about\nthe importance of staying grounded as we were entering the political\nfray. He explained that long after our service and the Huntsman-Herbert\nadministration expired, we want to be able to look back and be pleased\nabout the relationships that we had formed with each other, but\nespecially the relationships\n\n[[Page S7991]]\n\nthat we had maintained with our families, our children, and God.\n  I soon learned that Governor Herbert, in addition to being wise and\nin addition to being a skilled and valuable statesman, was also a\nformidable athlete. Right after he and Governor Huntsman were sworn in,\nthe staff got together as a team several times in the Governor's\nmansion, where we soon discovered there was a ping-pong table in the\nbasement. I then learned the hard way that Governor Herbert's athletic\nskills, including his ping-pong skills, are off the charts.\n  While severing Governor Huntsman, I always found Gary to be friendly,\napproachable, and always willing to tackle every single assignment with\neagerness and poise. Whenever Governor Huntsman's schedule became\nchaotic or changed unexpectedly, which happens in any Governor's office\nor any Senator's office, for that matter, particularly at certain times\nof the year, Lieutenant Governor Herbert would routinely be dispatched\nto speak on Huntsman's behalf, often sending him to remote corners of\nthe State and often at really inconvenient times.\n  He never once complained. And he was not only willing, but he was\nalways eager and happy. He felt fortunate for the opportunity to help.\nThat is the kind of enthusiasm that the people of the State of Utah\nhave benefitted from for so long as a result of Gary Herbert's service.\nYou see, he has never lost that--not during his entire time as\nLieutenant Governor and not during his entire time as Governor. You can\ntell that he is exactly where he wants to be and that he feels\nprivileged and he has been blessed to be able to serve the people of\nUtah.\n  Likewise, whenever there was an issue that needed to be addressed by\nthe Governor, even within the office or around the capitol compound,\nbut where the Governor was unable to meet with the particular group in\nquestion, Gary was always assigned to the case. He would meet with, as\nhe described it, all the different stakeholders. He would get together\nthe legislators, county commissioners, citizens from this or that part\nof the State, lobbyists, lawyers who may have been involved, in\naddition to other members of Governor Huntsman's administration. He\nwould bring them all in together, and he would wade through all the\nintricate and often pedestrian details of the matter. You see, he\nwanted to get to the bottom of the issue. He wanted to understand it.\nWhat is more, he had the skill of figuring out the best path forward\nfor all parties involved and for making everyone feel heard and\nunderstood. If ever, whenever, there was a way to achieve a win-win,\nGary found it, and he brought people to it, and they were always\ngrateful as a result.\n\n  The same traits that I saw in him as Lieutenant Governor would go on\nto make him an effective and beloved Governor himself. In office now as\nGovernor since 2009, Gary Herbert is currently the Nation's longest\nserving Governor, and our State has seen exciting achievement and\ntremendous prosperity with Governor Herbert at the helm.\n  In the last 8 years, Utah has seen continued, steady growth in our\neconomy, with improvements in our GDP, number of jobs, and unemployment\nrate. We have seen the boom of Silicon Slopes. We celebrated the\nsesquicentennial of the driving of the Golden Spike, when it was an\nhonor to stand alongside Governor and Mrs. Herbert at that celebratory\nreenactment.\n  On that particular occasion, Governor Herbert and his wife Jeanette\nshowed their characteristic enthusiasm by arriving in their finest 1869\napparel just to commemorate the moment, and it made all the difference.\nIt made it all feel much more authentic.\n  So, too, was it an honor to join Gary when President Trump came to\nUtah to announce his decision to shrink the Bears Ears National\nMonument, when we could all stand together and celebrate the fact that\nsomeone in Washington had heard our concerns within the State and saw\nfit to redraw the boundaries in a manner more compatible with local\ninterests and concerns.\n  Through his enthusiasm and his zeal, Gary Herbert has championed our\nState and the things that we stand for. He has done so very\nconsistently and very enthusiastically. He can rattle off figures and\nmetrics about Utah at the drop of a hat. I am convinced this man can do\nit in his sleep and do so infectiously and persuasively. And he is a\ncompelling spokesman for our State's values.\n  His spirit has helped Utah to attract talent and investment not only\nfrom throughout the United States but from throughout the world and to\nmake it the good place that it is to live.\n  Not only that, but Gary has been an instrumental partner in\nsupporting initiatives that reflect and strengthen the values of our\nState. To champion the reclamation of our lands, he signed into law the\nUtah Transfer of Public Lands Act. He also signed into law innovative\ncriminal justice reforms in Utah. He was at the cutting edge of that\nmovement, making a far-reaching impact across our State and that ended\nup having impacts elsewhere.\n  In fact, his work in Utah in criminal justice reform helped pave the\nway for the work that Congress and President Trump were able to achieve\nat the Federal level through the passage of the First Step Act.\n  He has been a strong supporter of Utah's family culture and was\nhelpful in the Senate's work promoting the child tax credit during our\ntax reform discussions just 3 years ago.\n  On a more personal note, Gary Herbert also had the wisdom to put my\nbrother Tom on the Utah Supreme Court. In so doing, he has been a\nchampion for textualism, the notion that judges are there to interpret\nthe law based on what the law says, rather than on the basis of what it\nmight have said.\n  For all of his public achievements, Gary is perhaps most proud and\nalways most conscious of and most aware of and most concerned about his\nown role as a husband, as a father, and as a grandfather. Gary and his\nwife Jeanette have 6 children together, as well as 16 grandchildren,\nand he is known to encourage them to ``follow in his footsteps and\nmarry up.''\n  In a myriad of ways, Governor Herbert has been a champion and a\nspokesman for all that is good about our State. It has been an honor to\nserve the people of Utah with him, and I wish Governor Herbert and his\nwife Jeanette all the best as they embark on the next chapter of their\nlives together.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Scott of Florida). The majority leader.\n\n            Unanimous Consent Agreement--Executive Calendar\n\n  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask\nunanimous consent that with respect to the Soskin nomination, the\nmotion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the\nPresident be immediately notified of the Senate's action.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2020-12-31-pt1-PgS7990"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 6.806146120652556, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}