May 9, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 77 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S2758-S2760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering Robert Pear

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I come to the floor today to pay 
tribute to a revered and distinguished member of the press corps, 
Robert Pear, a longtime reporter for the New York Times. He spent four 
decades in the corridors of this U.S. Capitol.
  I often say that journalists are the watchdogs of democracy, and I 
really believe that--policing their beats to inform the public and, 
more importantly, to hold wrongdoers and especially our big government 
accountable. That makes them very valuable to preserving our 
representative system of government. These journalists serve as the 
eyes and ears of the American people--reporting on issues that impact 
the daily lives and livelihoods of our neighbors. From crime to 
education, healthcare, and foreign policy, journalists serve as 
guardians of the First Amendment.
  That brings me to Robert.
  On Tuesday, the healthcare beat lost a legendary reporter. The death 
of Robert Pear will be mourned for many years to come. As the dean of 
the national healthcare reporters, he established a reputation for 
hard-nosed reporting. For decades, he carried out a noble mission to 
inform the public, and he did it with integrity and fairness. He leaves 
behind a legacy of unmatched institutional knowledge, particularly in 
the area of healthcare policy.

[[Page S2759]]

  As a policymaker and history buff myself, I read as much news as I 
can possibly get my hands on. On weekends, I catch up on my reading 
when traveling to and from Iowa. For every year I have served in the 
U.S. Senate, Mr. Pear's byline has appeared in the New York Times. I am 
told that it appeared more than 6,700 times. It is a byline that I made 
sure not to miss.
  His work put meat on the bones of public policy. Even those of us who 
study legislation closely could learn a lot and did learn a lot from 
his writings. Substantive and crisp, his exceptional reporting 
delivered a thorough analysis of complex issues and then without a 
doubt influenced the policy conversation on healthcare.
  His prolific pen sharpened the minds of readers, including staff and 
lawmakers who wrote legislation here on Capitol Hill. It even informed 
lobbyists who worked to penetrate and influence the debate. His work 
carried weight with those who implemented healthcare policy from the 
executive branch, including the White House, the Department of Health 
and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the 
National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
  Now that he has passed away, his absence on the healthcare beat here 
on Capitol Hill will be missed profoundly. His understanding of the 
mechanics of health policy were without equal. He was able to wade 
through the weeds of our archaic Federal spending formulas for Medicare 
and Medicaid and decipher their impact on the delivery of care in my 
rural communities but also urban America. Mr. Pear deftly communicated 
how proposed changes would affect patient care, from the point of 
service to the pharmaceutical counter and the pocketbooks of consumers. 
Policymakers, providers, patients, and the taxpayers have been well-
served by this giant of journalism.
  Unlike many of his peers, Mr. Pear shunned the spotlight by just 
doing the old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting. Unassuming and 
understated, Mr. Pear let his published work speak for itself.
  I am sure you are going to hear from Ranking Member Wyden shortly, 
and he knows Mr. Pear very well and would agree with some of these 
things I say.
  Before holding a press conference to unveil a bill dealing with 
healthcare, any Senator, including this one, had to be sure to have all 
their ducks in a row. No lawmaker wanted to be a sitting duck with 
Robert Pear in the front row of the press gaggle.
  I will miss his bylines, particularly the extent to which they helped 
to educate me, helped me to understand policy that other Members of 
Congress were promoting and maybe even learning from his criticism on 
some stands that I took.
  Today, I extend my condolences to his family, friends, and peers. I 
salute his lifelong contribution through exemplary service on behalf of 
the American people--most importantly, policing the process of 
representative government and making sure that government and those of 
us who serve in government are accountable.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, before he leaves the floor, I just want 
to thank the chairman of the Finance Committee. I think the chairman 
said: Well, the ranking member might agree with some of my comments. I 
agree with every one of the chairman's comments.
  I think, Madam President, how I would begin--and I think the Chairman 
would agree on this--we can have some pretty spirited debates about 
healthcare in this Chamber and in the Finance Committee, but, as the 
chairman indicated, there isn't an inch of difference with respect to 
our views on Robert Pear. We all thought he was a true professional, 
and he was the gold standard of journalism as it relates to healthcare.
  I thought about yesterday, Chairman Grassley, because we had a 
hearing on a topic relating to reimbursement of physicians. I think the 
chairman and I would be of like mind--it probably wouldn't be 
inherently fascinating in every coffee shop in Iowa and Oregon, but it 
is incredibly important, for example, for the survival of rural 
hospitals and so many concerns that I know the Presiding Officer of the 
Senate has and the distinguished chairman of the Finance Committee has. 
I looked over at the press table, Chairman Grassley, and the seat for 
Robert Pear was missing.
  Robert Pear--and that was what this special man was all about--never 
jumped to sit in front and say: Well, I am from the New York Times, so 
I should count more. As the chairman remembers, he always sat in the 
back.
  I thought we missed him so much yesterday. The chairman and I had 
just gotten the news. What we were talking about yesterday was what 
Robert Pear was all about--taking a very complicated issue that 
probably was not inherently fascinating and putting it in very simple, 
understandable, thoughtful words for the American people. As the 
chairman correctly said, that was what everybody would wait for when 
there was a complicated issue. You would hear it among Republicans, the 
chairman's staff, and my staff. People would hear about an issue, and 
very often, the first thing they would say was ``Did Robert Pear write 
about it?''
  If Robert Pear wrote about it, it was important. In fact, one of the 
most noteworthy aspects of the incredible outpouring of affection and 
admiration for Robert Pear yesterday--and the chairman and I talked 
about it in committee--is the New York Times had a slug called ``Pear 
on Health,'' and all over the country, my guess is--the Des Moines 
Register; the Oregonian, my paper, a big paper in Oregon--they would 
all wait for the Robert Pear slug because they knew that was a very 
important issue.
  The fact that Robert Pear wasn't at the witness table yesterday after 
all these years broke our hearts and brought back a lot of memories. I 
actually was stunned over the years--and the chairman touched on it--by 
his encyclopedic knowledge of healthcare. He remembered the amendment 
to the amendment to the amendment to the amendment that somebody 
offered 10 or 15 years ago.
  When I came to the Congress, he went and studied the history of the 
Gray Panthers. I was codirector of the senior citizens group. My little 
one still wonders if they are the Pink Panthers. Robert Pear knew 
everything about that.
  When he was up on the Hill--and the chairman probably remembers 
this--he had a little notebook in which he scribbled Chairman 
Grassley's remarks or my remarks or whoever he was talking to, but he 
also had bigger notebooks, and he kept an exhaustive set of files.
  In a town where, particularly at important post-hearing or post-
legislation events, all the reporters are shouting one above another, 
Robert Pear was the most soft-spoken voice in the room. In fact, I was 
at some events--my guess is that the chairman was as well--where it got 
kind of loud and frantic. They were throwing microphones and the like 
at you. When Robert Pear raised his hand and was called on, the room 
hushed. It went quiet because everybody understood that the question 
Robert Pear would ask was the right one.
  Senator Grassley and I were talking yesterday about how we 
particularly appreciated and felt--Republicans and Democrats--that 
Robert Pear was fair to all sides, and he held us all accountable. The 
general sense was that if you were a legislator and you were going to 
be interviewed by Robert Pear, you better go out and do some serious 
prep work because he would know the subject inside-out and in that 
soft-spoken way would just stay at it until he excavated the real 
effects. That was part of the Pear ``tell the right story in the right 
way'' approach to ensure that if you read a Robert Pear health story, 
you learned something. I think most Senators would agree that is not 
always the case with every single story, but that was the standard 
Robert Pear set.
  I think what I would like to say is that there are going to be a 
number of Senators who over the years had a chance to work with Robert 
Pear. We are going to hear their own accounts of their relationships, 
but we are not going to hear one single Senator--not one--say that 
Robert Pear tried to make them look bad, took a cheap shot, or tried to 
say something flashy in order to get a headline. They are going to say 
just the opposite. They are going to say: That is what journalism is 
supposed to be all about.

[[Page S2760]]

  I am a journalist's kid and very proud of it. My dad was a first-
generation Jewish kid. He taught himself English and was a journalist. 
He always said: ``Ron, the journalist's job is to ask the tough 
questions--the tough questions that really matter.''
  Robert Pear asked the tough questions, no doubt about that, but he 
always did it in a very unique way, a fair way, a thoughtful way, a way 
that embodied the gold standard for journalism that I have described.
  So yesterday was particularly sad. We got the news in the morning. We 
had that healthcare hearing, which started about an hour after we got 
the news. The first thing I thought of as I came into the room was how 
hard it is going to be--and it is not going to stop hurting for a long 
time--to imagine that seat at the end of the press table not having the 
thoughtful, informed Robert Pear sitting there so he could get the 
facts to the American people.
  So I just want to close today--we have had a number of colleagues 
speak already--to say, Robert, Robert Pear, you were the consummate 
professional. You were fair to the bone. It was an honor--an honor to 
get to work with you over the years in healthcare. We say goodbye to 
someone who was a true mensch, and this afternoon with heavy hearts, we 
think of Robert Pear and want the country to know what an extraordinary 
person he was.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. I recognize the Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I come to speak on another matter, but 
I want to thank Senator Wyden for the kind words he had to say, as 
well, about a very distinguished journalist.