Frist's Farewell Speech

DECEMBER 7, 2006

SPEAKER: U.S. SENATOR BILL FRIST (R-TN),

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

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FRIST: Mr. President, about two months ago, on a late Sunday afternoon, when no one was around, I came into this chamber to carry out a time-honored tradition nearly as old as this institution itself: I came over to this desk, and I opened the drawer, and that tradition of carving your initials or your name into the bottom of that drawer was carried out.

And as you open these drawers, that many of us do when we're sitting here listening and debating, you tend to look at the names that are there. I see Robert Taft in the bottom of this drawer, Hugh Scott, Everett Dirksen, Howard Baker, Bob Dole, Trent Lott -- the list goes on.

And with the quiet here, you begin to reflect a little bit, but then all of a sudden you start thinking, as you're carving that name into that drawer, that there aren't very many things that you leave that are permanent around here, but that is one.

And it confronted me, as it hits me with such force today, that our time here, indeed, is temporary and that we are here to occupy these seats at these desks just for a period of time. And we can never forget that we don't own these seats, we don't own our presence in this United States Senate.

And it's with that recognition that I address my colleagues today.

I've reflected, as I mentioned, a lot over the last several weeks, and I think back to that non-politician who came to this city and this body 12 years ago with a whole lot of hope for the people of Tennessee and a whole lot of hope for this country.

I think back to the people who put their trust in that man's hands. And, indeed, it was 12 years ago that Karyn and I came to Washington. I came as a citizen legislator with absolutely no -- no -- political experience. I was a doctor. I'd spent 20 years in a profession of healing.

And in my acceptance speech back 12 years ago, I pledged at that time to my fellow Tennesseans that Karyn and I would go to Washington, that we would serve for 12 years, for a limited amount of time, and then we'd go back to Tennessee and live under the laws that we helped enact.

And that's exactly -- exactly -- what we'll do. We're going to go back to Tennessee in a few weeks, and I'm going to live in the very same house that I was born in 54 years ago.

I still remember coming to the Hill early on -- and I know a number of colleagues, new colleagues are coming to the Hill. And I think back -- and my former chief of staff, who was very green at the time -- I just told you how green I was at the time. I remember standing right in front of the Capitol, and we had to stop somebody and ask, "Where is this building called the Russell Building?"

FRIST: And they told us, and luckily I don't think they knew who I was, at the time.

But I did come believing deeply in the promise that I had made. And I believed in my heart that, with determination -- and I've seen it in surgery and in the operating room, but I believed that one can make a difference in this world.

Today I look back and I see that I was only half right: that one person can make a difference -- and each of us do in our own ways -- but to make a difference, we can't do it alone. And I certainly couldn't have done it without people who've stood both behind me and with me over the last 12 years.

All of my colleagues, I think, know -- I know you know -- Karyn. And indeed, she has honored me by her unwavering -- unwavering -- love each step along the way. Her grace in carrying out her official responsibilities, her commitment to the development of character in our three boys, her moral support, her spiritual support for me and our family -- she has been that guiding river that has kept us on course as we've travelled two very, very different professions, occupations, that of being a heart surgeon and then that of serving as a United States senator.

Our three boys most of you know as well. You've watched them grow up over the last 12 years: Bryan, Jonathan and Harrison. Obviously we are so proud of each of them.

They have -- and I'll speak directly to them, because they, as with anybody growing up, face huge challenges of growing up in public life, taking in stride the various swipes that the media takes from time to time, but doing so with real dignity and strength.

The boys know that Tennessee is home. They've been able to take in the rich texture that are afforded all of us as we raise children here in this town. And they've grown from three young boys when they came here to three young men.

FRIST: I really want to thank staff members -- and we never do that enough -- those staff members who've been with me from the very beginning: Emily Reynolds, Ramona Lessen, Bart VerHulst, Cornell Wedge.

I thank my series of chiefs of staff -- Mark Tipps, Lee Rawls, Howard Liebengood, Eric Ueland, Andrea Becker, Bart and Emily -- and all those who have come in and out of these doors since that very first day, 12 years ago, when, yes, I, like somebody every cycle, was 100th in seniority.

It's the staff that have put the needs of this country before their own needs. And with a lot of hard work and a lot of heart and a lot of passion and a lot of hope, they have accomplished so much.

A few moments will always stand out in my mind. And I'm not going to recite all of them.

But a few do stand out in my mind: victories like the $15 billion in funding for global HIV-AIDS, which I've seen firsthand the real power in the thousands and hundreds of thousands and, indeed, I would say millions of lives who have been saved by American leadership there; the prescription drugs for seniors; confirming John Roberts and Sam Alito.

And through all of this time, we've borne witness to days that have literally changed the face of our nation and the face of this capitol: things like the Capitol shootings, September the 11th, anthrax and ricin, Katrina.

But through all of that, we kept at it the best way we could: with hard work and with heart and with a lot of hope.

I thank my colleagues who placed their faith in me to serve as their leader. As I said four Decembers ago when you elected me, it was, and has been ever since, every day, a very humbling experience.

FRIST: On that day, four years ago, I quoted Proverbs: "In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." And what fulfilling steps has been afforded me as leader.

I cannot let today pass without expressing gratitude for the close friendships of people who are here and some people who have passed through this chamber.

Howard Baker, the great Republican leader from Tennessee, whose shoes, as majority leader, I've done my best to fill. He has counseled me over the years, both as a senator, as leader. His sage advice I've relied upon many times in those capacities.

You have to be very careful going around the room, but, behind me, people like Pete Domenici, who became a mentor to me on that very first day in 1995, and people like John Warner, who we saw in action just a few minutes ago on the floor and yesterday in the Gates nomination.

And former senators -- people like Don Nickles, who so wisely set the stage for the Republican tax cuts of the last several years.

My colleague and confidant, Mitch McConnell, whose wisdom and service has been indispensable to leading the Republican majority; who ascends in party leadership, who'll be sitting at this desk in a few weeks. In temperament and skill, no one -- no one -- is better prepared.

And my Tennessee colleagues: Fred Thompson, now Lamar Alexander -- two great statesmen with whom I've had the honor to work, side by side, as we've addressed the needs of our constituents.

I thank the two Democratic leaders: Tom Daschle and now Harry Reid.

As Harry and I have said publicly many times, everybody sees the public contrast between one leader to the other -- between Harry and me. But what people don't see are the daily conversations, the private conversations off the floor, where views are mutually respected, where burdens are shared and where family is discussed.

Karyn and I leave this body with tremendous respect for Harry and for Landra for their contributions to their country.

FRIST: To all my colleagues who have reached across the aisle and across differences when you could, thank you.

Twelve years ago, it was people in Tennessee who took a big chance, who took a great chance. They took a chance on a doctor who was little-known, who had never served in public office, obviously had never run for public office. They began by opening their minds and then opening their homes and then opening their lives and then opening their hearts. And I'm eternally grateful for them for giving me that trust and taking that chance.

On this floor many times I have mentioned my parents, I mentioned my dad. And dad used to say, "It is a powerful thing to know where you're going in life, but it is equally powerful to know where you have come from."

To the good people of Tennessee, I thank you for never letting me forget where I've come from. You never let me forget those promises made on the trail over a decade ago, the promises that have been the heart of everything that we've done.

Yours are the voices that have called out to me from Mountain City in east Tennessee to Memphis in the west -- the people out there who are working hard every day to raise a family, to grow a business, to run a farm, to get ahead.

As long as I'll live, I'll never forget those voices, those voices of clarity, those voices of common sense that called out and counseled me time and time again.

Two people who won't hear me thank them today directly are two who were here at my swearing-in but who have since passed on: my parents, Dorothy and Tommy Frist. They have left a fascinating legacy that the five children -- and I'm the last of those five -- have been the beneficiaries of: a legacy of honesty, of civility, of fairness, of hard work, of service. And we all -- at least we -- at least I tried to struggle to capture what they did in passing that legacy on to our children.

My own brothers and sisters -- Mary, Bobby, Dottie and Tommy -- who all, in their own way, with their children and grandchildren, have been successful in living lives of service to others.

Many friends today with me are Jean Ann and Barry Banker, Denise and Steve Smith. It is that friendship, that team that gives people, I believe, the strength, the foundation to carry out that mission of serving this great country.

FRIST: In the past few weeks, I've also spent a lot of time reflecting about the future of this institution.

As I prepare to leave here and return to my home, many people have asked, "Don't you ever regret the promise that you made to serve just for 12 years, to serve two terms? Did you regret it when you became chair of the RSC or when you became majority leader? If you knew then what you know today, would you 12 years ago have made that promise?"

And my answer is yes, because I believe today, as I believed then, in the ideal -- and it is, I guess, an ideal, althought I think it's real -- and that is of the citizen legislator. And bittersweet though it might seem today, it is right.

And I hope that, in some way, as I leave here, that my service -- people say effective, ineffective, and all that's very important -- but that my service, that the example of someone who had never, ever run for public office, had never served before, who had spent his lifetime, in fact, twice as much time as I'd spent in the United States Senate, pursuing another profession, coming here and literally, like so many people today, starting as number 100 in seniority over in the basement of the Dirksen and rising to majority leader over that 12-year period, the example of a committed doctor who was able to find purpose and fulfillment in serving others through the jobs that all of us do as United States senators through elected office will inspire others to seek office, to seek public service. That is my hope.

And those that come to serve after me as a true citizen legislator will bring perspective and new ideas that in some small way, some serendipitous way, or maybe large ways, make this country a little bit better and contribute to this institution.

You've heard me talk about, and even champion at times, term limits. And I know most people don't like term limits. They were popular for a period of time, but most people don't like term limits.

I still am a great believer in self-imposed term limits. Every morning you get up, you know you have three more years or two more years or one more year or half a year or two days, and you know that every day that goes by, if you don't have at least an understanding there can be an end, you tend to forget that.

And self-imposed term limits are the exception, the extreme exception, here today, not the practice in this city.

FRIST: I think, as a consequence, we are moving toward a body that has too much of a two-year vision, governing for that next election, rather than a body with a 20-year vision, governing for the future.

As we consider the future of the institution, I urge that we ask ourselves what it is that our forefathers envisioned. Is today's reality what they foresaw?

I urge that we consider our work in this chamber. What is it really all about? Is it about keeping the majority? Is it about red states versus blue? Is it about lobbing attacks, in some way, across the aisle, back and forth? Is it about war rooms, whose purpose is not to contrast ideas but to destroy? Or is it more?

When the Constitutional Convention met in 1787, delegates considered how best to structure this legislative branch of new government. And they were determined not to repeat the mistakes that were made in the Articles of Confederation, which had just a single, or a unicameral, legislature.

Speaking to the convention, Virginia's James Madison set forth the reasons to have a Senate. His words: "In order to judge the form to be given to this institution, it will be proper to take a view of the ends to be served by it." These were, first, to protect the people against their rulers; and secondly, to protect the people against "transient impressions into which they themselves might be led."

I think we need to remember this vision of the Senate: that the framers established the Senate to protect people from their rulers and as a check on the House and on the passions of the electorate. And let us not allow these passions of the electorate be reflected as destructive partisanship on this floor.

Taking the oath of office, which, again, many of our new colleagues will be doing here shortly, commits each senator to respect and revere that framers' dream.

To my own successor, Bob Corker, and to all the senators who will follow me in service to this great nation, I urge you to be bold, to make the most of your time here, and to look at problems with fresh eyes and with a steely determination, to give the American people a reason to believe in you and to hope for a better tomorrow.

FRIST: To serve this grand institution has been a labor of love. To lead, there has been a challenging responsibility set out before me and before each of us. And it's been a profound honor to serve.

I'll close with just one story. And it happened in southern Sudan. As, again, many of you have heard me say over time, because that is such an important part of my life, I go to Sudan just about every year.

And a thousand miles south of Khartoum and about 500 miles west of the Nile River, and started going in the mid-1990s -- mid- to late 1990s. And after being there and operating day after day back in the bush, I was ready to come home. This was actually in January. The State of the Union message was a few days off. And I was ready to come home.

But we'd finished operating in a hut. We operated by flashlight, late at night. And somebody in a little -- the next adjacent building, a little hut, basically said, "I want to see the American doctor." And I didn't want to go. I wanted to get back home. I wanted to go to bed and get on the airplane and come back home.

But I did. I was tired. I walked over, pulled the curtain aside, this rug that served as a door. And in the very back, there was somebody who was smiling. And you could see the bandages on his hand, the bandages on his leg. And I went over, through a translator said, "I'm the American doctor." And he said, "Thank you," to the American doctor.

And as a physician, I'm accustomed to that, because when you operate on somebody, they say thank you. So I said, "Yes," and then got ready to leave. And he was a little bit frustrated, and he said, "Come back," and he said, "Thank you for being the American doctor."

FRIST: And I still didn't quite get it. And he picked up his arm, and he said, "I lost my arm in this civil war fighting. I lost my leg eight days ago. It was about two years ago that I lost my wife and my two children. Thank you for being the American doctor."

And then I started to get it. He was saying, "Thank you for being the American doctor." And then he said it. He basically said that it is you, as a representative of America and the democracy and the liberty and the freedom, that I've sacrificed my wife and my children and my arm and my body. Thank you for what you represent.

Then, all of a sudden, it begins to hit you. To me, that image really cuts through just about everything that we do. It's about preserving, as best we can, the great hope that we represent here in America that is embodied in this institution: the freedom, the responsibility, the opportunity, the compassion, the basic decency that lie at the heart of who we are as Americans.

Beyond Democrat or Republican -- and we just came out of that campaign -- now is the time to again remind ourselves and state, and state again and again, beyond Democrat, beyond Republican, that we are Americans, together, one people.

FRIST: And it's our responsibility to uphold the dream and protect that hope for all Americans, for every American and, indeed, people around the world who seek that freedom.

I opened by saying that time is temporary, and we're passing through, so now's the time to close. Your patience has been generous.

As I've spent a lifetime learning, to everything there is a season. We say that, and we hear it, and we tend to repeat it when there's changes, but to everything there is a season. And the season for Karyn and me draws to a close.

The good thing about it is tomorrow's the time for birth and rebirth. And tomorrow is a day and a time for new rhythms.

My dad did a great thing that I've shared with some of you, and each of us should do that to our children or to people that we care very much about. He knew that he was going to die, roughly knew, in the next couple of years. So we asked him just to write down his thoughts for advice and counsel for the next generation -- not his kids and not their kids, but the great-great-grandkids he'd never see -- simple, four to five pages.

He ended that letter to his great-great-grandchildren that he'd never see with the following words: "The world is always changing, and that's a good thing. It's how you carry yourself in the world that doesn't change. Morality, integrity, warmth and kindness are the same things in 1910 when I was born or in 2010 or later when you'll be reading this. And that's a good thing too. Love, Granddaddy."

So under the dome, it's time for fresh faces and fresh resolve. Change is good, and change is constructive.

The Senate changes, the people who serve in this body change, but what doesn't change is that every one of us who serves believes deeply in the genius of the American democracy.

So it's with the deepest appreciation that Karyn and I thank you all for 12 wonderful years.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

(APPLAUSE)

END

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Dec 07, 2006 15:21 ET .EOF

Source: CQ Transcriptions

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