Johnny Isakson: “I appreciate the compliment. It is probably overstated, but it is an honor and a privilege to serve with Senator…”

“I appreciate the compliment. It is probably overstated, but it is an honor and a privilege to serve with Senator Sessions as well as with Senator Coats. I wish to reflect on something we shared this morning. Senator Coats and myself and others were with Senator Akaka for breakfast this morning. He talked about 1941, living on Hawaii, the youngest of eight children. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and America went to war in the Pacific and in Europe. Sixteen million Americans of that generation went to the Pacific and Europe, fought and died. Some came back to this country and, because of the GI bill, 8 million of them went to universities and got bachelor's degrees and started the small businesses and the industries that took the U.S. economy to dynamic growth and opportunity for every generation that has succeeded them, up until now. Senator Sessions and I and Senator Coats and Senator Akaka, who is a great American, a Democratic Senator from Hawaii who is retiring next year, we are all part of a generation that will, at some time, leave a legacy to our children and our grandchildren. The Senator from Alabama has children and grandchildren, I have them, and Senator Coats does as well. I don't want to be the first generation since World War II to leave my children and my grandchildren worse off than every generation before left their children and grandchildren.…”