WASHINGTON—After 40 years of public service, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts delivered his final speech on the Senate floor on Thursday.
Click here to watch a replay of the speech and click here to watch Senator Moran's tribute to Senator Roberts.
Senator Roberts is Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He becomes the first member of Congress in history to have chaired both the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate committee. He has also served as the ranking member of each committee.
For 16 years, Roberts represented the Big First District of Kansas, including his home of Dodge City, in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1996, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He is finishing his fourth term.
Below are Senator Roberts’ remarks as prepared for delivery.
Mr. President, my colleagues, I thank the leadership on both sides for this opportunity to give the “Pat Roberts Adios Amigos” speech.
The story of how I got into politics is a pretty straight family path. As a fourth generation Kansan, my great grandfathers, on both sides of the Roberts - Patrick family were pioneer newspaper editors who came to Kansas as crusading abolitionists.
To say I bleed fourth generation printers ink would be close to the truth.
However, the main influence that drew me to public service was my Dad, Wes Roberts, who was a newspaper man – and soon journalism led to politics. He served as chief of staff and an advisor for several Kansas governors, before becoming State Republican Chairman.
In 1952, my Dad was asked to head up the Citizens for Ike campaign team, which was a genuine army of volunteers, made up of legions of veterans, women’s groups and mostly Republicans who wanted a candidate who could win. Plus, they really liked Ike.
At 16, in my Dad’s tow, I was a sergeant of arms at the 1952 convention, back when conventions actually chose the nominee for president. I vividly remember two lasting experiences.
The renowned Senator from Illinois, Everett Dirksen, was a key leader in the Bob Taft campaign. Senator Dirksen, known for his long eloquent speeches, was in the midst of his convention remarks, when the entire New York delegation, led by former Governor and presidential candidate Tom Dewey, marched in and, with considerable noise, took their seats.
Dirksen paused and pointing directly at Dewey, and with his booming voice, said this:
“You, sir, have led this Republican Party down to defeat in 1944 and again in 1948. Don’t do it again!”
Whereupon, the entire New York delegation stood up and gave Dirksen the “raspberry”.
And, I thought, this is what adults do at a convention?
One morning I was in a meeting with my Dad and the top Ike campaign brass - Dewey, Lodge, Brownell, and other GOP movers and shakers. He told me to sit and be quiet.
He was in the midst of suggesting the “Fair Play” amendment given that the new Ike delegates from the “Solid South” had surprised the “old guard” and won delegate seats at the state conventions -- only to be replaced by the old guard at later surprise conventions. Unlike MacArthur, “old guards” never die or fade away.
My Dad said there was no downside if they lost and he believed they could win a majority of the delegates. The “Fair Play” amendment passed and Ike won on the first ballot.
I thought to myself, “Wow! My Dad helped Ike win!” I met the General, shook his hand, then again at the 1953 Inaugural ceremonies when my Dad became Republican National Chairman.
It was these reflections, told to my great friend and Medal of Honor recipient, Senator Danny Inouye, that prompted him to say, “I fought for Ike, you met him, it’s up to you to get his memorial done.”
And, after a 21 year effort, we did just that with the help from Bob Dole, Jim Baker, Susan Eisenhower, the Eisenhower family and Senator Lisa Murkowski, who kept the Ike Commission going during the tough years. Finally, we now have an appropriate, if not stunning, memorial to the Kansan who saved Western Democracy in World War II and led America onto the world stage.
With the final dedication of the Dwight David Eisenhower Memorial at the end of my Senate career, it is a full circle family accomplishment. If my Dad helped elect Ike, then the least I could do was to lead the effort to make a memorial on the mall to a great general and president a reality.
In a homecoming address Eisenhower famously said, “The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene.” He was a small town Kansas boy who saved western democracy and led the nation for 8 years of peace and prosperity.
I too come from a small town in Kansas. So how did this boy from Holton, Kansas, become the longest serving member of Congress in Kansas history?
Like father, like son, I graduated from K-State, with a degree in journalism.
My father joined the Marines in World War II and saw action in both Okinawa and Iwo Jima. I joined in peace time, served on Okinawa and was part of the first Marine contingent return to Iwo Jima on the 15th anniversary of that battle.
From Marine Captain to newspaper editor and news director of a radio station in Arizona, I dropped everything and drove to Washington when Senator Frank Carlson asked me to come work for him.
Within weeks of leaving Phoenix, I was the Chief of Staff for Senator Frank Carlson, a venerable and highly respected Senator, who made his mark on Kansas history as the only person to serve our state as a congressman, governor, senator, UN delegate, and the founder of the national prayer breakfast.
Life changed dramatically. I always thought a bachelor was a man who did not make the same mistake once. Then, into my life came a tall, blonde, blue-eyed magnolia blossom from South Carolina.
Franki and I have been married for 51 years and have been blessed with three children and eight grandchildren. I am who I am because Franki is my wife and we are parents to David, Ashleigh, and Ann Wesley; and Papa Pat to Lorena, Patrick, Sayaka, Lilly, Charlie, Miles, Oliver, and Graham. My family is my crowning achievement.
Senator Frank was a great mentor. He always said, “There are no self-made men or women in public office, it is your friends and family who make you what you are.”
He taught me a great lesson: “Your true friends stand behind you when you are taking the bows and beside you when there any boo’s.”
Following the two year stint with the Senator, I was privileged to work 12 years for the newly elected congressman from the “Big First” district of Kansas as his chief of staff.
Keith Sebelius, was a wonderful man, a leader on the House Agriculture Committee and the Interior Committee, especially with regard to improvements and restoration of our national parks.
Upon Keith’s retirement, a group of party stalwarts encouraged me to run. Franki simply said, “This is what you always wanted to do, let’s do it.”
So, for nine months, with no paycheck or health insurance, and limited savings with three young children, Dodge City became my home. Most sane candidates would not attempt to go door to door in a district larger than most states. However, with a lot of help, we won a tough primary and not so tough general election – the first of 24 straight victories.
I was ranking to Chairman Kika de la Garza and when the l994 revolution put Republicans in the majority after being in the wilderness for over 40 years – suddenly, I was chairman. In 1996, we achieved a major farm policy reform, changing 40 years of farm bill policy. To this day, farmers still have the Freedom to Farm what they want.
I have had the honor and privilege of representing Kansans for 16 years in the House and 24 in the Senate. The Pat Roberts of 1980 was fighting for Kansas values and for the issues that affect the daily lives and pocketbooks of all Kansans. As the Pat Roberts of 1996, I promised that, if elected to the Senate, when Kansas spoke, Washington would listen.
I have held six gavels in the House and Senate, and that, in and of itself, might be a record. But, it’s what happened during my tenures as chairman that I believe have had the most lasting impacts. It’s not just having the gavel – it’s what you do with it.
Taking part and leading eight farm bills in the House and Senate have touched and improved many lives, and I’ve always been mindful of what farm families do for our nation and a troubled and hungry world as we crafted each bill.
I was fortunate that my first committee assignments were to serve on the Armed Services Committee, as well as Agriculture. Strom Thurmond was the very senior Chairman who, as the country song goes, never even called me by name. I was recognized as “the Senator who had the good sense to marry a fine, beautiful, South Carolina girl.”
My role on Armed Services Committee was to collect the small change left by the Air Force to enable the Marine Corps to continue to be our nation’s force in readiness, not to mention a new warfighting lab.
I also had the privilege of being the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman for four years during the Iraq War, and led the Committee’s investigation that exposed a worldwide intelligence failure resulting in a blueprint for the 9/11 Commission and a better Intelligence Community that kept our country safer.
As Chairman of the brand new, Emerging Threats Subcommittee within the Armed Services Committee, I traveled to cities within what remained of the former Soviet Union. In one of the Soviet “secret cities”, we discovered a lab that had developed strains of pathogens that could do irreparable harm to any nation’s food supply! Talk about an “Evil Empire!”
I caution my colleagues: that threat still exists even as we endeavor to continue the worldwide fight against COVID-19.
It has taken over 20 years to respond to this threat with a biological containment and research lab, and we still are not done!
I’ve put a lifetime of work into NBAF, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, in Manhattan, Kansas. It will soon serve as the first line of defense to protect American agriculture and the world’s food supply.
I have also been privileged to serve on the HELP committee. Thank you to Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray for supporting my amendments, especially with regard to rural health care.
And, finally, I chaired the Senate Ethics Committee. I don’t know what I have done wrong, but I have been a member of the committee for what I am sure is a record of 24 years.
As I move out of my office – formerly a veritable museum of pictures, awards, and stuff we all collect – all that remains are the barren beige walls, full of memories and stories, which are all classified.
However, I still have my Marine Corps bumper sticker: “To err is human, to forgive is divine, neither is Marine Corps policy.” Marines never give up, we take the hill and the discipline and focus I learned in the Marine Corps never failed me in my toughest battles in the Senate. Semper Fi!
And still in the office, of course, a framed statement with the advice of LBJ: “Sometimes you have to hunker down like a jackass in a hail storm and just take it”.
On that note, if you want to avoid a hailstorm, get a good staff! You’re only as good as your staff, and I have the best staff in Washington because they always took the Hill.
My Chiefs of Staff: Leroy Towns, Jackie Cottrell and Chad Tenpenny, my DC Deputy Chief of Staff Amber Kirchhoefer, and my Ag Committee staff directors: Mike Seyfert, Joel Leftwich, and James Glueck led the posse. They always checked to make sure the herd was still there, and we didn’t ride into any box canyons.
To the staff currently in this chamber with me and those watching on C-SPAN, thank you. It has been an honor to have you call me “Boss.” Always remember, you are family. I couldn’t have asked for a more loyal, dedicated or talented staff.
To be a member of this United States Senate is a true privilege. A working family, it is the greatest deliberative body in the world. But, today, as compared to when I first came to the Senate, it’s the deliberative part that gives me great concern. I lament the loss of comity, the ability to work together, or just to get along. Sadly, gridlock appears to be the new normal. However, it does not have to be.
I am very proud that I have had the privilege of being chairman of a committee that does get along and we do get things done – the Senate Agriculture Committee. And, it really is not that hard.
First, we represent the best of our nation – farmers, ranchers, growers, and the entire food value chain. We know we have a collective job to do in their behalf – and we do just that.
Second, we convene in a small hearing room, in pre-COVID times, right across the table from each other.
Third, for the most part, we actually know one another! I used to be the ranking Republican member when Senator Stabenow was the Chairperson. We worked together on the 2014 farm bill. In 2018, it wasn’t our first rodeo!
We knew, regardless of what each of us wanted, passing a farm bill was paramount. We had an agreement: no surprises, no press the other one did not know about, and we held hearings together all over the country to listen to all of agriculture. I went to the campus of Michigan State and wore green and white, she came to Kansas State and wore purple. We not only agreed to work together, we gave staff marching orders to do the same. We also became friends, I protected her, and she protected me in conference and we got 87 votes, setting a record for a farm bill.
Now, we ordinarily do not vote alike on the floor, but we remain friends, and that is the way it should be. Friendship and comity is the norm for the Ag Committee, it could be for the whole Senate.
And though things in this great country are rocky, I have a news flash: these are not the worst of times.
When I first came to Washington in early 1967, our nation experienced the tragedy of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Within hours, Washington was on fire, Marines on the Capitol steps with sand bags and automatic weapons with live ammunition.
Advised to leave the beltway, I mistakenly thought I could get to my parents’ apartment house via the Rock Creek Parkway. No traffic was moving, tear gas in the air, and random gunshots rang out. I decided to jump the curb, drive on the sidewalks and eventually on the mall itself.
The police told me the parkway was closed. When they focused on the next drivers, I jumped the curb and took off on the parkway.
As bad as that period of time was, it was not as bad as the military march on thousands of WWI veterans demonstrating on the mall and setting up camp in the mid l930's and demanding bonuses. President Hoover ordered them removed by military force. Led by none other than Douglas MacArthur complete with a tank, horse cavalry with swords, and armed troops, the bonus vets were quickly dispersed or rounded up.
Fast forward, the 1968 Chicago riots, Kent State and the horrible shooting of students by untrained guardsmen. Sen. Bobby Kennedy running for president only to suffer the same fate as his brother. And then came Watergate.
Those days were tough. It was almost impossible to not face the bitter splits over political parties and even families.
Today we are in the midst of a worldwide pandemic – and even that has fallen into politics – but it doesn’t have to be.
At home, Kansas has been dealt its fair share of hardships. But in Kansas, we don’t let disasters define us. We grab our bootstraps and get to work. That’s our normal.
Multiple prairie fires have ravaged Kansas farms and ranches – the Anderson Creek Fire in 2016, the Starbuck fire in 2017. Those folks have learned to adapt and build back, with the help of USDA disaster programs.
We also had the tale of Treece, Kansas – once a boomtown turned toxic waste dump – it was an extremely unsafe, unhealthy place for folks to live. Working with the Obama administration’s EPA – no less, we relocated them to safer places and (literally) greener pastures – because working across party lines is what we do in Kansas.
Let’s not forget about the EF-5 tornado in 2007 that completely destroyed the community of Greensburg.
I immediately called President Bush from a McDonald’s in the next town and asked for help. When I hung up, there were 25 people gathered around me, listening.
One old timer in his bib overalls said to me, “Was that the President of the United States?” I said, you bet. He turned to his wife and said, “Mother, see? I told you. I told you Pat was talking to the president and we’d get help.” And FEMA was there the next day.
In a FEMA-issued tent, I talked to the graduating senior class whose school and homes were but a pile of debris and told them, “You are the class of hope and destiny.”
The following year, President George W. Bush spoke at graduation. The size of that audience matched the size of hope that Kansans had for their future and rebuilding of their lives.
I’m reminded of the optimism of those speeches and the optimism I have for our country.
We endured these hardships and came out on the other side. We did it by changing the old normal and creating a new normal.
Here, in the Senate, only we can decide what our new normal is, and we ought to get to know one another. We don’t have to let the apparent gravitational pull of more and more politics in pursuit of power to change what our founders gave us – the creation of a nation of liberty and freedom, the envy of the world – and to literally move the United States Senate from the moorings of its historic and great past to simply be a rubber stamp for radical change.
The beauty is that we can decide what our normal is. We don’t have to let circumstances dictate our future. Let us once again become a body of respect, humility, cooperation, achievement and friendship. That can and should be our new normal.
The entire country could use a little bit of what we say in Kansas, “Ad astra per aspera” – to the stars through difficulties.
As my time in the Senate draws to a close, I have done my best to improve the lives of Kansans and all Americans. I have worked tirelessly for decades to accomplish big and small things so that this generation and future generations might live and achieve the American dream.
To Kansas, I say a humble thank you. Thank you for the privilege of representing you in this Great Body.
To my colleagues, thank you for fighting on behalf of our great nation and alongside me to preserve this chamber.
As I ride off into the sunset, to create a new normal for Franki and me, I will be cheering for the Senate to rebuild the bridges of comity that will create a new normal.
My colleagues, my time is up. Thank you for yours.