Monday was a solemn day for the U.S. Senate, which was in session two days after the death of Arizona Sen. John McCain. The late senator’s desk served as a makeshift memorial, and Cindy McCain shared a photo of the memorial on Twitter.
— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) August 27, 2018
McCain’s desk was draped in black, with a bouquet of flowers on top. Cindy shared the poignant image on her Twitter page, only adding a crying emoji.
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McCain, who was first elected to the Senate in 1987, died Saturday at age 81, following a battle with brain cancer.
“My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the the place he loved best,” Cindy wrote moments after McCain’s office announced his death.
“When John saw an issue the same way you did, you knew you’d just found your most stalwart ally,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during his opening remarks Monday, reports ABC News. “You’d thank your lucky stars. Because when you found yourself on the other side of that table, as I think all of us learned, you were in for a different kind of unforgettable experience. Either way, serving alongside John was never a dull affair.”
McConnell and McCain did not always agree, including last year when McCain voted against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. However, McConnell said the two still stood “shoulder to shoulder on some of the most important issues to each of us, and we also disagreed entirely on huge subjects that helped define our careers.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also honored McCain, and asked for his fellow Senators to put country ahead of party.
“We can try, as he always did, to speak truth to power,” Schumer said. “And we can try, as he summoned us to try, to restore the Senate to its rightful place in our national political life.”
The Democrat also asked Republicans to rename a Senate office building still named after the late Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia, a segregationist. The building is home to the Armed Services Committee, which McCain chaired from 2015 until his death.
Schumer and Arizona’s junior senator, Jeff Flake, will formally introduce the resolution soon.
Late Monday, the Trump Administration also agreed to lower the U.S. flag over the White House to half-staff to honor McCain after it was surprisingly raised to full-staff earlier in the day.
“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain‘s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,” President Donald Trump said in a statement, reports CBS News.
McCain will be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland Sunday.
Photo credit: Getty Images / Pier Marco Tacca
