Madam President, I rise to honor our friend Bill Nelson. As a member of the Commerce Committee, I have been able to see firsthand his leadership, and I have learned a lot from him. I think we all heard his heartfelt remarks about what he loves. He loves his service. He loves Grace up there and his family. He loves his staff, and he loves everything about the State of Florida. Service for him was, of course, service in the Army, service as an astronaut, service in the State government, service in Congress, and service in the U.S. Senate.

I first met Bill in Minnesota. I am not sure he remembers this, but I do because he was one of the first Senators I met other than a Minnesota Senator. He came to help my good friend Paul Wellstone. I remember what struck me immediately about him was how kind he was and how warm he was. Part of that, of course, was the warmth he was bringing from Florida. Maybe you wouldn’t think our States have a lot in common, but what you might not know is that there are entire beaches in Florida filled with Minnesotans in the winter months, perhaps even entire towns—but at this point, he had come to our State.

It was no surprise, then, when I first was elected and we got to Washington, that Bill and Grace were so welcoming to our family. They got me involved in the Prayer Breakfast, which has meant a lot to me through my years in the Senate. It has been such a comfort. I have gotten to know so many people, really, because of their encouragement. I have gotten to know BILL’s leadership firsthand, as I mentioned, on the Commerce Committee. I was talking to his staff about all of the things we did on that committee. I see Senator McCaskill here who also served with us and Senator Thune, the chairman. I remember when Bill took on lead in toys. We both did that together. I remember him taking on all kinds of consumer issues, time and again—the 9–1–1 system, fraud and abuse—taking on the issues that matter to people in their daily lives. Then the bigger things—modernizing our space program, our aviation policies, responding to disasters, and climate change. I remember once he said: ‘‘I have seen the blue brilliance of the Earth from the edge of the heavens and I will fight on to save this planet.’’

What I will most remember Bill by is his incredible marriage to Grace at a time when it is not easy to be in the Senate and make sure you keep your relationship strong. Grace, of course, was in leadership in her own way in the Senate’s spouse club. When I was down there a few months ago, Grace told this really nice story, when we were in Jacksonville, about how my daughter had played piano at Grace’s encouragement. They had the spouse event, and they smartly decided to have kids of Senators perform. I remember it a different way. I remember the kids who were performing were, of course, their own daughter, Nan Ellen, who is a beautiful singer and sings ‘‘God Bless America’’ at major stadiums; I remember Trent Lott’s son, who is a professional country western singer, performing; and then I remember that my husband had raised his hand and volunteered that our 13-year-old daughter would play piano, when she is not even that good at it. We got to the event. All of the Senators are there, and Grace is just smiling like we are about to see Liberace perform. Abigail was sitting there with her music with little Post-it notes on them. Harry Reid calls her up and says: The next to perform is Abigail Bessler. She has been playing piano since she was 6 years old. I wanted to say: But she only practices a half an hour a week. She gets up there, pounds it out, stands up, and says: Now I am going to play a song that I made up. I am like: No. And she played this song, and it actually wasn’t that bad. The first one there to greet her was Grace. Grace said: That was so beautiful, Abigail. Perhaps tomorrow at the luncheon, you will just want to play the second song. Grace was so sweet to her and to our family and to really all of the spouses and everyone she worked with. So I think when we think of Bill, we also think of Grace. It has been my honor to work with both of them and to respect both of them. As Senator Rubio said, we know there are many great things ahead. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Grace. I yield the floor.