    [Senate Document 113-28]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                          TRIBUTES TO HON. TOM COBURN

                                   Tom Coburn

                           U.S. SENATOR FROM OKLAHOMA

                                    TRIBUTES

                               IN THE CONGRESS OF

                               THE UNITED STATES

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                                      S. Doc. 113-28

                                  Tributes

                          Delivered in Congress
                                Tom Coburn

                        United States Congressman

                                1995-2001

                         United States Senator

                                2005-2015

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

                                   WASHINGTON : 2015

                                Compiled under the direction

                                           of the

                                 Joint Committee on Printing

                                          CONTENTS
                 Biography.............................................
                                                                          v
                 Farewell Address......................................
                                                                        vii
                 Proceedings in the Senate:
                    Tributes by Senators:
                        Ayotte, Kelly, of New Hampshire................
                                                                          9
                        Begich, Mark, of Alaska........................
                                                                         26
                        Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado................
                                                                         10
                        Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
                                                                         33
                        Burr, Richard, of North Carolina...............
                                                                         19
                        Carper, Thomas R., of Delaware.................
                                                                         17
                        Chambliss, Saxby, of Georgia...................
                                                                         10
                        Coats, Daniel, of Indiana......................
                                                                         25
                        Collins, Susan M., of Maine....................
                                                                         15
                        Coons, Christopher A., of Delaware.............
                                                                          7
                        Cornyn, John, of Texas.........................
                                                                          3
                        Durbin, Richard J., of Illinois................
                                                                          6
                        Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming...................
                                                                         30
                        Flake, Jeff, of Arizona........................
                                                                         22
                        Graham, Lindsey, of South Carolina.............
                                                                         28
                        Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah.......................
                                                                     28, 33
                        Hoeven, John, of North Dakota..................
                                                                          9
                        Inhofe, James M., of Oklahoma..................
                                                                         24
                        Isakson, Johnny, of Georgia....................
                                                                         24
                        King, Angus S., Jr., of Maine..................
                                                                         22
                        Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
                                                                         32
                        Manchin, Joe, III, of West Virginia............
                                                                         21
                        McCain, John, of Arizona.......................
                                                                          7
                        McConnell, Mitch, of Kentucky..................
                                                                         12
                        Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
                                                                          5
                        Schumer, Charles E., of New York...............
                                                                         21
                        Sessions, Jeff, of Alabama.....................
                                                                         26
                                          BIOGRAPHY

                   Tom Coburn, M.D., was elected to the U.S. Senate on
                 November 2, 2004. Dr. Coburn and his wife, Carolyn, a
                 graduate of Oklahoma State University and former Miss
                 Oklahoma, were married in 1968 and have three children and
                 seven grandchildren. They are members of First Baptist
                 Muskogee.
                   Dr. Coburn's priorities in the Senate included reducing
                 wasteful spending, protecting liberty, balancing the
                 budget, improving health care access and affordability,
                 protecting the sanctity of all human life--including the
                 unborn--and representing traditional, Oklahoma values. As
                 a citizen legislator, Dr. Coburn pledged to serve no more
                 than two terms in the Senate and to continue to care for
                 patients. He was a member of the Senate Select Committee
                 on Intelligence and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
                 Urban Affairs. Dr. Coburn also served as ranking member of
                 the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
                   As a Senator, Dr. Coburn offered more amendments than
                 any of his colleagues. He offered amendments to eliminate
                 funding for the ``Bridge to Nowhere,'' the ``Woodstock
                 Museum'' in New York, and countless other special
                 interests earmarks sponsored by Members of both parties.
                 Dr. Coburn also worked to make government more accountable
                 and transparent. In 2006, he teamed up with then-Senator
                 Barack Obama to create http://www.usaspending.gov/, an
                 online database of all Federal spending.
                   Dr. Coburn issued over 50 oversight reports during his
                 10 years in the Senate, taking a closer look at nearly
                 every aspect, mission, and department of the Federal
                 Government. Washington bureaucrats feared being called out
                 in his annual ``Wastebook,'' which highlighted the most
                 outrageous government spending of the year that spared no
                 agency from scrutiny, questioning, or ridicule.
                   Before his election to the Senate, Dr. Coburn
                 represented Oklahoma's Second Congressional District in
                 the House of Representatives from 1995 through 2001. He
                 was first elected in 1994, then reelected in 1996 and
                 1998, becoming the first Republican to hold the seat for
                 consecutive terms. Dr. Coburn retired from Congress in
                 2001, fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than three
                 terms in the House.
                   In 1970, Dr. Coburn graduated with an accounting degree
                 from Oklahoma State University. One of the top ten seniors
                 in the School of Business, Dr. Coburn served as president
                 of the College of Business Student Council. From 1970 to
                 1978, Dr. Coburn served as manufacturing manager at the
                 Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Optical Industries in
                 Colonial Heights, VA. Under his leadership, the Virginia
                 division of Coburn Optical grew from 13 employees to more
                 than 350 and captured 35 percent of the U.S. market.
                   After the family business was sold, Dr. Coburn changed
                 the course of his life by returning to school to become a
                 physician. Again he emerged as a leader, becoming
                 president of his class at the University of Oklahoma
                 Medical School where he graduated in 1983. He then did his
                 internship in general surgery at St. Anthony's Hospital in
                 Oklahoma City and family practice residency at the
                 University of Arkansas, Fort Smith.
                   Dr. Coburn returned to Muskogee where he specialized in
                 family medicine, obstetrics, and the treatment of
                 allergies. Dr. Coburn has personally delivered more than
                 4,000 babies.
                   Dr. Coburn also is a three-time cancer survivor.
                                   Farewell to the Senate
                                 Thursday, December 11, 2014

                   Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, following in the traditions
                 of the Senate, I come to the floor to speak about my
                 experience in the Senate. Unfortunately, this will not be
                 the last time I speak, much to the chagrin of many of you,
                 as I have some adamant opposition to some of the things we
                 are doing.
                   But I nevertheless will try to put in context some of my
                 feelings and thoughts about the great privilege that has
                 been granted to me by the people of Oklahoma. We hear a
                 lot of speeches in this place. As Members who are elected,
                 it gets reflected on us, but nothing could be further from
                 the truth. Because the things that really make this place
                 operate are the people who work with us, the people who
                 support us, the people who help guide us, the people
                 behind the scenes who are both brilliant and committed and
                 dedicated to the founding principles of this country.
                   We all have them working for us. Yet they are rarely
                 recognized. So whether our accomplishments are big or
                 small, those accomplishments come through the work,
                 efforts, and labors of those who join with us as we come
                 here to try to make a difference. So I first wanted to say
                 there are a lot of people I need to say thank you to; from
                 our Parliamentarian Elizabeth to all of the staff who work
                 in the Senate, to the people who work at GAO, wonderful
                 people, CRS, the IGs, legislative counsel--they have
                 written thousands, I mean literally thousands of
                 amendments for me. They probably are going to have some
                 real mixed feelings about my departure. Then I have
                 personal staff--all tremendous--but one of whom I found to
                 be a phenomenal, brilliant person. His name is Roland
                 Foster. There is not anything he has ever forgotten. You
                 can ask him anything. He will find it. He knows it. So I
                 mention him. I have hundreds of others whom I could
                 equally speak about, from my former chief of staff Mike
                 Schwartz, who passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease, to
                 those in my office and staff who each knows what a
                 difference they make--they did--the Cloakroom staff and
                 the help we get from Laura Dove and David Schiappa and Mr.
                 Duncan on our side--same on the opposite side. We are only
                 able to function because of all the people who enable us
                 to do that. So with those thank yous, I actually wanted to
                 move to a different topic. The topic is believing in our
                 country. I tell people wherever I go: We do not have one
                 problem we cannot solve. There is nothing too big for us.
                 They are all solvable.
                   To prove that is my chairman, Tom Carper, on homeland
                 security. He has been a phenomenal chairman. He is not in
                 my party. We do not agree on everything, but the one thing
                 we agreed on was that we were going to work together to
                 solve problems. We have. We did not solve them all, but I
                 would suggest if we look at what has come through this
                 place, even in this dysfunctional place at this time, we
                 will see more coming out under his leadership than any
                 other pieces of legislation. Why is that? It is because
                 the focus was not about him, it was not about me, it was
                 about solving the problems of our country.
                   To those of you through the years whom I have offended,
                 I truly apologize. I think none of that was intended
                 because I actually see things differently. You see, I
                 believe our Founders were absolutely brilliant, far
                 smarter than we are. I believe the enumerated powers meant
                 something. They were meant to protect us against what
                 history says always happens to a republic. They have all
                 died.
                   So the question is, What will happen with us? Can we
                 cheat history? Can we do something better than was done in
                 the past? I honestly believe we can, but I do not believe
                 we can if we continue to ignore the wisdom of our founding
                 documents. So when I have offended, I believe it has been
                 on the basis of my belief in article I, section 8. I think
                 we can stuff that genie back into the bottle.
                   E pluribus unum. ``Out of many, one.'' But you do not
                 have one unless you have guaranteed the liberty of the
                 many. When we ignore what the Constitution gave us as a
                 guideline, to protect the individual liberties, to limit
                 the size and scope of the Federal Government so the
                 benefits of freedom and liberty can be expressed all
                 across this land, that is when we get back to solving our
                 problems.
                   I think about my father--he had a fifth-grade
                 education--a great believer in our country. He would not
                 recognize it today. The loss of freedom we have imposed by
                 the arrogance of an all-too-powerful Federal Government,
                 ignoring the wisdom and writing of our Founders that said,
                 ``Above all, we must protect the liberty of the individual
                 and recognize that liberty is given as a God-given
                 right.''
                   So my criticism isn't directed personally, it is because
                 I truly believe that freedom gains us more than anything
                 we can plan here. I know not everybody agrees with me, but
                 the one thing I do know is that our Founders agreed with
                 me.
                   They had studied this process before. They know what
                 happens when you dominate from a central government. This
                 didn't mean intentions are bad; the intentions are great.
                 The motivations of people in this body are wonderful, but
                 the perspective on how we do it and what the long-term
                 consequences are of how we do it really do matter.
                   We see ourselves today with a President whom we need to
                 be supporting and praying for, with an economy that is not
                 doing what it could be doing, and we need to be asking the
                 question, Why? Is there a fundamental reason? And there
                 is.
                   We are too much involved in the decisionmaking in the
                 economy in this country that inhibits the flow of capital
                 to the best return, which inhibits the growth of wealth,
                 which leaves us at a standard of living the same as what
                 we had in 1988. That is where we are, yet it doesn't have
                 to be that way.
                   I am going to read some words we have all heard before,
                 but they are worth rereading. ``We hold these Truths to be
                 self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they
                 are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
                 Rights ...''
                   All of us. ``... that among these are Life, Liberty, and
                 the pursuit of Happiness.''
                   I look at legislation and say how does that have an
                 impact on those two things, and too often it has a
                 negative impact.

                   That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted
                 among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of
                 the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes
                 destructive of these Ends, it is the right of the People
                 to alter or abolish it.

                   I don't know where we are on that continuum, but I know
                 we are not where we were intended to be in the vision of
                 our Founders, and we are suffering, no matter where you
                 are in the country, as a consequence.
                   We established the Constitution to try to protect those
                 rights and to delineate those rights. We put in the
                 limitation of the government and outlined the rights of
                 each individual citizen upon which the government shall
                 not infringe. Yet what comes out of this body and this
                 Congress every day, to my chagrin, infringes those
                 guaranteed rights.
                   Every Member of the Senate takes the same oath and this
                 is where I differ with a lot of colleagues. Let me read
                 the oath, because I think it is part of the problem.

                   I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and
                 defend the Constitution of the United States against all
                 enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith
                 and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation
                 freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of
                 evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the
                 duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help
                 me God.

                   Your State isn't mentioned one time in that oath. Your
                 whole goal is to protect the United States of America, its
                 Constitution and its liberties. It is not to provide
                 benefits for your State. That is where we differ. That is
                 where my conflict with my colleagues has come. It is nice
                 to be able to do things for your State, but that isn't our
                 charge. Our charge is to protect the future of our country
                 by upholding the Constitution and ensuring the liberty
                 that is guaranteed there is protected and preserved.
                   The magic number in the Senate is not 60, the number of
                 Senators needed to end debate, and it is not 51, a
                 majority. The most important number in the Senate is one--
                 one Senator. That is how it was set up. That is how our
                 Founders designed it, and with that comes tremendous
                 amounts of responsibility, because the Senate has a set of
                 rules that gives each individual Member the power needed
                 to advance, change, or stop legislation. That is a tool
                 that has to be mentored and refined and wise in its
                 application.
                   Most of the bills that pass the Senate never receive a
                 vote. We all know that. It is a vast majority of the
                 bills. They are approved by unanimous consent. It only
                 takes a single Senator to withhold consent to stop most
                 legislation.
                   There are many other rules and procedures a Member can
                 use. They are often referred to as arcane, but that is
                 only because they are rarely used. They are not arcane.
                 They were designed to protect liberty, to secure liberty,
                 to make sure that we don't all follow history and fail.
                   Every Senator has the power to introduce legislation
                 and, until recently, offer amendments.
                   No single Senator should be allowed to decide what the
                 rights of another Senator should be. That is tyranny. It
                 has nothing to do with the history and classics of the
                 Senate.
                   To exercise the rights we have been entrusted with, we
                 must respect the rights of others. That is the true power
                 of our Constitution. That is also the true power of the
                 Senate. It is what binds our Nation together, and it is
                 what is needed to make the Senate work properly again.
                   The Senate was designed uniquely to force compromise,
                 not to force gridlock--to force compromise. One Senator
                 had the power to stop everything for the first 100 years,
                 but it didn't because compromise was the goal.
                   Our Founders understood there were many differences
                 between the States--in size, geography, economy, and
                 opinions. They united the States as one country based upon
                 the premise that the many are more powerful than the one.
                 As Senators, we have to follow this example. I have not
                 always done that; I admit that freely to you. I should
                 have. As Senators, we must follow the example, stand for
                 our principles, but working to find those areas of
                 agreement where compromise can be found to unite and move
                 our country forward. My colleague Senator Carper has my
                 admiration because he has worked tirelessly the past 2
                 years to try to accomplish that.
                   Not all of the powers of the Senators are exercised on
                 the Senate floor. Each Member of the Senate has a unique
                 role to participate and practice oversight, to hold the
                 government accountable, and that is part of our duties,
                 except most often that is the part of our duties that is
                 most ignored.
                   To know how to reach a destination, you must first know
                 where you are, and without oversight--effective, vigorous
                 oversight--you will never solve anything. You cannot write
                 a bill to fix an agency unless you have an understanding
                 of the problem, and you can only know this by conducting
                 oversight, asking the tough questions, holding the
                 bureaucrats accountable, find out what works and what
                 doesn't, and know what has already been done.
                   Effective oversight is an effective tool to expose
                 government overreach and wasteful spending, but it also
                 markedly exposes where we lose our liberty and our
                 essential freedoms.
                   I have had some fun through the years, taken some
                 criticism for the waste vote--and it is opinion, I agree.
                 Everybody who has seen the ``Wastebook'' has a great
                 defense of why it is there. But the real question is will
                 we become efficient at how we spend the money of the
                 American people? This is a big enterprise. There is no
                 other enterprise anywhere close to it in size in the
                 world. It is not manageable unless we all try to agree to
                 manage it and have the knowledge of it.
                   I think there ought to be 535 ``Wastebooks'' every year,
                 and then we ought to have the debate about where we are
                 not spending money wisely and have the information at our
                 fingertips so we make great decisions because, quite
                 frankly, we don't make great decisions because we don't
                 have the knowledge. Then what knowledge we do have we
                 transfer to a bureaucracy to make decisions about it when
                 we should have been guiding those things.
                   True debates about national priorities would come about
                 if we did effective oversight. It is the Senate, once
                 hailed as the world's greatest deliberative body, where
                 these differences should be argued. Our differences should
                 be resolved through civil discourse so they are not
                 settled in the street.
                   Just as the Constitution provides for majority rule and
                 our democracy while protecting the rights of the
                 individual, the Senate must return to the principles to
                 bring trust of the electorate, and it can. Our Founders
                 believed that protecting the minority views and minority
                 rights in the Senate was essential to having a bicameral
                 legislature that would give us balance and not move too
                 quickly against the very fundamental principles upon which
                 this country was based--and not out of guessing, but out
                 of thorough knowledge of what had happened in the past. We
                 have to be very careful to guard both minority rights and
                 the rule of law.
                   There is no one who works in the Senate who is
                 insignificant, whether it is the people who serve us when
                 we have lunch, to the highest of the high. They all
                 deserve our ear. Each of us has value.
                   I end with one final comment. The greatest power I have
                 not used as a Senator, which I would encourage you to use
                 in the future, is the power of convening. You have
                 tremendous power to pull people together because of your
                 position.
                   To convene the opposite opinions--Chuck Schumer has been
                 great at that for me. When we have a difference, he wants
                 to get together, convene, and see how we work. That power
                 is the power that causes us to compromise, to come
                 together, to reach consensus. So my encouragement to you
                 is to rethink the utilization of the power of convening.
                 People will come to you if you ask them to come.
                   Again, I end by saying a great thank you to my family
                 for their sacrifice, a great thank you to the wonderful
                 staff I have, and a thank you to each of you for the
                 privilege of having been able to work for a better country
                 for us all.
                   I yield the floor.
                   (Applause, Senators rising.)
    ?

                                          TRIBUTES

                                             TO

                                         TOM COBURN
                                  Proceedings in the Senate
                                                   Monday, December 8, 2014
                   Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, in the waning days of the
                 113th Congress it is a bittersweet moment as many of us
                 are saying goodbye--although not on a permanent basis but
                 at least in terms of our official relationships working
                 together as Senators--to so many of our good friends and
                 valued colleagues. Every other December we find ourselves
                 bidding farewell to some of the most admired and respected
                 Members of this Chamber. Today I want to say a few words
                 about three of these esteemed Members, starting with my
                 good friend, the senior Senator from Georgia [Mr.
                 Chambliss]. ...
                   I will close my remarks today on our retiring colleagues
                 by paying tribute to Dr. Tom Coburn. He is someone we have
                 all come to know and admire over 20 years as a relentless
                 fighter for limited government and conservative values
                 here in the Congress.
                   Tom can be a very charming guy, but I know he can also
                 be a pain in our side when he is determined to make sure
                 he gets a chance to get a vote on an important matter here
                 in the Senate. I think he is comfortable in both of those
                 roles. In fact, I know he is.
                   Tom Coburn is a man of strong principle, a man of great
                 integrity, and, perhaps just as important, a man of
                 remarkable humility. Our country has benefited greatly
                 from the wisdom and leadership Tom has provided during his
                 service in Congress--first in the House and then in the
                 Senate. I have been in the Senate now for a little more
                 than a decade, and during that time our colleague from
                 Oklahoma has done more than anyone else in this Chamber to
                 eliminate wasteful spending, expose fraud and abuse in the
                 Federal budget, and get our entitlement programs on a
                 sustainable path. Tom would be the first one to say that
                 job has just begun, but he has certainly given it
                 everything he has.
                   He has educated our Nation on the fiscal threat we live
                 under and what it means for our children and
                 grandchildren, and he has worked tirelessly to correct it.
                   He has done a remarkable job as the ranking member of
                 the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee,
                 as well as his service on the Intelligence and Banking
                 Committees.
                   Furthermore, Tom has been an unyielding force for
                 protecting liberty and improving access to affordable
                 health care by proposing positive patient-oriented
                 alternatives, and for these reasons and many more I am
                 grateful for his service.
                   But perhaps the thing he does not want to be remembered
                 for--but that has made such a profound impression on many
                 of us--is his courage and ability to deal with the fact
                 that he is a three-time cancer survivor. Even last week, I
                 know he was receiving treatment for this most recent
                 flareup, but he will be back here today. He will be doing
                 what he does best, and that is fighting for his principles
                 and perhaps causing more than a little bit of turbulence
                 in the process in this otherwise staid Chamber.
                   I know I speak for this entire Chamber when I say it is
                 an honor to serve with a man such as Tom Coburn. I know
                 this to be true because Tom is well respected on both
                 sides of the aisle.
                   In fact, when Time magazine named Tom 1 of the 100 most
                 influential people in the world in 2013, a friend of Tom's
                 and former Democratic Senator wrote:

                   The people of Oklahoma are lucky to have someone like
                 Tom representing them in Washington--someone who speaks
                 his mind, sticks to his principles, and is committed to
                 the people he was elected to serve.

                   The friend I am referring to who made those remarks is
                 none other than our President, Barack Obama, when he
                 served with Tom in the Senate. When the President said
                 that, he found out that Tom received a number of angry
                 letters from constituents that said he and President Obama
                 looked a little too chummy together, to which Tom
                 replied--and this is classic Tom Coburn, ``What better way
                 to influence someone than to love them.''
                   This serves as a testament to his character. You see,
                 Tom has an extraordinary ability not just to win the
                 respect of those who agree with him but the admiration and
                 respect of those who disagree with him as well. That is a
                 rare thing in politics and especially in today's society.
                   Nevertheless, Tom has spent his career promoting what is
                 good for the country while never wavering from his
                 personal conversations. Along the way he has racked up a
                 lengthy list of accomplishments that protect taxpayers and
                 increase transparency in government.
                   Tom's resume proves he has been a leader not only in
                 Congress but in every aspect of his life. For example, I
                 think many of our colleagues don't realize he had a
                 distinguished career in business and medicine before he
                 got here. Tom served as president of the school of
                 business student council while getting his accounting
                 degree at Oklahoma State University. Later he went back to
                 law school--excuse me, that was a Freudian slip he
                 wouldn't be happy with. Later he went back to medical
                 school, where he trained to become a physician and served
                 as president of his class at the University of Oklahoma
                 Medical School.
                   Tom has a lot to be proud of about his service in the
                 House and in the Senate. But, again, like all of us, he is
                 most proud of his family. He has been married to the
                 former Miss Oklahoma for nearly 50 years, and he and
                 Carolyn have three daughters and seven grandchildren.
                 Meanwhile, in his career as a physician, he has delivered
                 more than 4,000 babies, which perhaps explains the vote
                 totals in some of his elections, because I am sure many of
                 them have grown up to vote for him.
                   The things that I mentioned are only a few of Tom
                 Coburn's long list of notable achievements. Knowing Tom
                 and his work ethic, I have no doubt he will be giving 110
                 percent right up until the last minute he serves in the
                 113th Congress on January 3, 2015.
                   I wish Tom and his family the very best as they enter
                 the next season of life.
                                                  Tuesday, December 9, 2014
                   Mr. REED. Mr. President, I would like to take a few
                 minutes to salute my colleagues who are departing the
                 Senate at the end of this year with the conclusion of the
                 113th Congress: Mark Begich of Alaska, Saxby Chambliss of
                 Georgia, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Kay Hagan of North
                 Carolina, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Mike Johanns of Nebraska,
                 Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana,
                 Carl Levin of Michigan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jay
                 Rockefeller of West Virginia, Mark Udall of Colorado, and
                 John Walsh of Montana.
                   They have all worked hard, ceaselessly giving their
                 energy and considerable time and service to their
                 constituents, to their home States, and to our country. I
                 want to thank them for their service and for their
                 kindness to me over many years in so many cases. In
                 particular, I want to say a few words about these
                 colleagues. ...
                   Tom Coburn has always been passionate on the issues he
                 cares about. We have engaged in vigorous debate,
                 demonstrating, I hope, that principled disagreement can
                 lead ultimately to principled progress. My thoughts are
                 with him, particularly as he battles health issues, his
                 cancer. I hope and wish him success and much happiness as
                 he moves forward. ...
                   Along with all of my other colleagues who are leaving us
                 at the conclusion of the 113th Congress, let me thank them
                 for their service, their dedication to improving the lives
                 of Americans, and on a very personal level for their
                 friendship. I wish them all well.
                                               Wednesday, December 10, 2014
                   Mr. DURBIN. I have some tributes here for my colleagues
                 who are retiring, leaving the Senate. It is a lengthy list
                 of tributes. ...
                   I want to say a word about three others on the other
                 side of the aisle who are retiring: Saxby Chambliss of
                 Georgia, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Mike Johanns of
                 Nebraska. I got to know them when I gathered with one of
                 these gangs, as they call them around here, to talk about
                 deficit reduction. We spent more time together trying to
                 explore the Federal budget in ways to reduce our deficit
                 in a thoughtful manner so that we really got to know one
                 another and respect one another.
                   There is a world of difference in our political values
                 and philosophies, but each of them in their own way made a
                 positive contribution toward making this a stronger
                 nation. ...
                   Senator Tom Coburn and I come from different parts of
                 the country and different ends of the political spectrum,
                 but we found there is a lot we agree on. I have always
                 believed, as Senators Paul Douglas and Paul Simon said,
                 that being a liberal doesn't mean you have to be a
                 ``wastrel.'' Senator Coburn knows that being a
                 conservative and protecting America's economy demands more
                 than blind budget cutting. His nickname is ``Doctor No,''
                 but when it comes to wishing him well as he steps down
                 from the Senate, my colleagues join me in a resounding
                 ``yes.'' ...
                   None of them is running for reelection so I can't hurt
                 them politically by saying that I regard each of these
                 Senators as friends. They showed political courage when
                 partisanship would have been easier.
                   I wish them the best in all their future endeavors.

                   Mr. COONS. ... As I close, I would also like to thank
                 those of our colleagues who will be leaving the Senate
                 after the New Year.
                   It is an incredible privilege to work in this Chamber
                 and to represent the people. Every day I am awed by the
                 dedication and talent of many of my colleagues, public
                 servants who come to work to fight for their States and
                 their government.
                   To those who are ending their service in the Senate,
                 know that I value your friendship and partnership. It has
                 been an honor to work with you, and I thank you for all
                 you have done for our Nation.

                   Mr. McCAIN. Today, I would like to offer words of
                 tribute to my departing colleague, Senator Tom Coburn,
                 whose service exemplifies standards of purposefulness,
                 integrity, and decency, to which we should all aspire and
                 whose example ought to inspire the service of new and
                 returning Senators alike.
                   I am going to miss an awful lot our colleague from
                 Oklahoma. I have always admired Tom for the strength of
                 his convictions and the courage and candor with which he
                 expresses them day after day. ``The No. 1 thing people
                 should do in Congress,'' Tom once said, ``is stay true to
                 their heart.'' No one in the history of this institution
                 has ever followed that injunction more faithfully than Tom
                 Coburn has.
                   Tom Coburn has an unshakable faith in the goodness of
                 America, and he has worked diligently with others when he
                 could and alone, if necessary, to make sure government
                 respects the people we serve--respects their hopes and
                 aspirations, their concerns and sacrifices. He has never
                 forgotten he is the people's servant first and last, and
                 they have never had a more genuine and determined
                 champion.
                   I think Tom has often acted as the conscience of the
                 Senate. He can be unmovable on matters of principle when
                 to do otherwise would harm or do no good for the country.
                 Tom Coburn is sometimes called ``Dr. No,'' affectionately
                 most, if not all, of the time. He has held up more
                 legislation that he thought ill served the public interest
                 than any other Member of this body. He even placed a hold
                 on one of his own bills that he thought no longer met his
                 high standard of accountability after it was reported out
                 of committee. I don't think the American taxpayer has ever
                 had a greater defender than Tom Coburn.
                   I like to think I have taken a few principled stands
                 when the situation has warranted it, and I have made
                 myself an occasional nuisance in service to what I thought
                 was a good cause. But I have never been so conscientious
                 that I felt obliged to defeat my own legislation. That is
                 a pretty high standard of personal responsibility to meet
                 and a character test of the first order. I am not sure
                 many of us would pass it. I wouldn't. But then, as all his
                 colleagues can attest, Tom Coburn is a person of the very
                 highest character. He possesses the highest virtues--
                 courage, humility, compassion--in an abundance. It has
                 been an honor to serve with him.
                   As principled as he is, as unwavering as he can be when
                 he believes it necessary, he has also been a brave and
                 determined proponent of compromise when he believed it
                 served the public interest, when it would help build a
                 more prosperous and secure society with more opportunities
                 for more people and brighter futures for our children.
                   We always have detractors. It comes with the job.
                 Whether Tom was standing on principle or seeking a
                 principled compromise, he stood up to criticism. He stood
                 up to pressure. He stood up to threats and insults and
                 whatever negative personal consequences he might suffer.
                 He stood up to whatever came his way to do what was right
                 for his country. He stood up for the American people, no
                 matter how difficult it was. What better can you say about
                 a public servant?
                   Tom and I worked together on a lot of things. We fought
                 together to end earmarks and opposed other forms of
                 wasteful spending. We worked together on oversight
                 projects for the stimulus bill and highway trust fund
                 spending. We also fought for a long time to let veterans
                 decide where they could best receive health care. We made
                 good progress on some issues and not enough on others, but
                 Tom Coburn was always an example and an inspiration to me.
                   If I could speak more personally, Tom has been more than
                 a paragon to me and to other Members of the Senate. He is
                 first and foremost a kind, considerate, and loyal friend--
                 a friend in good times and bad, a friend who brings out
                 the best in you because he believes in the best part of
                 you. I said earlier Tom Coburn sees the innate goodness in
                 the American people. He also sees it in his colleagues,
                 even when it isn't apparent to other observers.
                   We have shared happy times together, Tom and I, but Tom
                 has the instinct and the kindness to be the kind of friend
                 who is there when you need him--when you need him most, in
                 moments that aren't so happy.
                   We all lead pretty good lives here. We get the chance to
                 serve the greatest country in the world and, on occasion,
                 to make history. We are honored and feted and praised more
                 than we deserve. But as all human beings do, we have
                 moments of worry and doubt and disappointment. Tom always
                 has the knack for showing up when I need cheering up. He
                 has made the point over the years of being company when
                 you most need it.
                   Friendship is a virtue to Tom, and he means to live a
                 virtuous life. You could be working on something with him
                 or opposing each other on an issue, it doesn't matter. If
                 you need him, he will be there for you with a kind word, a
                 piece of advice, a little encouragement or just good
                 company. There are too few people like that in anyone's
                 life not to cherish the hell out of those who are. I
                 cherish my friendship with Tom Coburn, and I always will.
                   The Senate will be a poorer place without Tom Coburn to
                 set an example of public service for the rest of us. But
                 in gratitude to him for his leadership and friendship, I
                 will try a little harder to live up to his standards, and
                 I hope he will let me know when I fall short.

                   Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I rise to thank my friend
                 Saxby Chambliss. Senator Coburn spoke about leadership. We
                 are very much going to miss Senator Coburn, Senator
                 Johanns, and Senator Chambliss in this body. ...

                   Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, in the new Congress we will
                 welcome 12 new Republican Senators, and that is wonderful.
                 They are great people. They are excited. They are
                 enthusiastic. I think they are going to do wonderful
                 things. So there are 12 new Republican Members coming into
                 the new Senate, and we are going to lose 3 of our
                 Republican colleagues. I am thinking, maybe that is about
                 the right ratio; it is about 4 to 1.
                   But these are three individuals who are unbelievable in
                 what they have been able to do in the relationships they
                 built, the friendships, and the work they have done on
                 behalf of the American people. So I am looking at that
                 statistic and I am thinking: Wow, these are three great
                 people who have done the work of many, and I think they
                 have laid the foundation in many ways for us to get to a
                 majority: Senator Johanns, Senator Coburn, and Senator
                 Chambliss. I think they have done a lot of that work
                 required for us to get to majority.
                   We have heard about the great Senator from Georgia. But
                 I think the things I am going to talk about for a minute
                 in regard to Saxby Chambliss apply to the two individuals
                 sitting here with him. They are cut from the same cloth:
                 Senator Coburn, Senator Johanns, true public servants.
                 People who ran for the right reason; people who serve for
                 the right reason. I think we could ask anybody in this
                 body on either side of the aisle, and they would tell us
                 that these three individuals served for the right reasons,
                 and served to the very best of their ability the American
                 people--not just the people of their State, but the
                 American people. They will be remembered long after they
                 are gone. They will be remembered because of the great,
                 wonderful people they are, for the relationships they have
                 built, and for that service. So I echo Senator Ayotte's
                 comments. ...
                   When we talk about Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, Mike
                 Johanns, it doesn't get any better than that. We will miss
                 them a lot.
                   I wish all three of them Godspeed, and may God bless you
                 in your next career.
                            ORDER FOR PRINTING OF SENATE DOCUMENT
                   Mr. BENNET. I ask unanimous consent that the tributes to
                 retiring Senators be printed as a Senate document and that
                 Senators be permitted to submit tributes until December
                 23, 2014.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
                 ordered.
                                                Thursday, December 11, 2014
                   Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, we have all just heard a
                 very moving, a very inspirational and what I consider a
                 motivational speech from our dear friend Tom Coburn.
                   Twenty years ago, in 1994, there were a bunch of wild
                 and crazy folks who got elected to the U.S. House of
                 Representatives. The Republicans took the majority for the
                 first time in 42 years. They ran on a Contract with
                 America and were led by a group of firebrand leaders. Tom
                 Coburn was in that group of folks who got elected in 1994
                 to the U.S. House. I was in that group. Senator Graham was
                 in that group. Senator Burr was in that group. Senator
                 Wicker was in that group.
                   There were a few Members of that class who became known
                 as real bomb throwers. Tom Coburn was a bomb thrower. Tom
                 Coburn would object for the sake of objecting to anything
                 that was going on. It didn't make any difference which
                 side of the aisle it was coming from. But let me tell you,
                 Tom Coburn matured into a class act, No. 1, which he
                 always was; and No. 2, he matured into a legislator second
                 to none.
                   Tom did not hesitate to object to any spending bill that
                 came from either party if Tom Coburn believed that was not
                 provided for in the Constitution and was something the
                 U.S. taxpayer should not be paying for. There is nobody
                 who has guarded the pocketbook of the taxpayers of the
                 United States like Tom Coburn.
                   It is remarkable that those of us who were elected with
                 Tom have had the opportunity to see him over the last 20
                 years take on major subjects that most veterans said, you
                 know, in the end, we are going to prevail. But guess what.
                 They never did. Tom Coburn, even though he may have lost a
                 vote from time to time, in the end, Tom Coburn prevailed.
                   Tom is one tough guy too. He has been through a lot
                 physically and, boy, what a survivor. I mean we think we
                 have issues to deal with. None of us can imagine what Tom
                 has gone through. When somebody comes up to me as I am
                 walking through an airport--and they will have seen Tom
                 Coburn on television--and they say, ``What about this guy
                 Coburn,'' there are two things that immediately come to
                 mind when I think of Tom Coburn, family and faith.
                   First, family. Tom and Carolyn have had such a solid
                 marriage. He tried to date her as an eighth grader and she
                 wouldn't go out with him. But he kept pestering her long
                 enough that she finally did and what a great marriage they
                 have had. They have three beautiful daughters and a
                 household of grandchildren whom he absolutely loves to
                 death and likes to spend time with, as opposed to being
                 here.
                   Second, Tom's faith. There is nobody I have ever met who
                 has a stronger faith than Tom Coburn. He exhibits it on
                 the floor, he exhibits it one on one, he exhibits it in
                 the Prayer Breakfast every Wednesday morning. He is one
                 person who has probably counseled more people in this
                 body, on both sides of the aisle, than anybody other than
                 the Chaplain.
                   On top of that, he is just a class act. He has been a
                 dear friend. We have spent many hours on the road
                 together, many hours on the golf course together, and many
                 hours socializing together. There is no finer individual
                 who ever served in the Senate than Tom Coburn. He is one
                 of the things I am truly going to miss about leaving here.
                 But actually, as we have already talked, we will probably
                 now spend more time together than ever since both of us
                 are retiring.
                   Tom, to you, I thank you for that great friendship and
                 also thank you for what you have done for my children and
                 my grandchildren. You are a great American and you have
                 served this country well.
                   God bless you.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader.

                   Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, along with many of my
                 other colleagues, I pay tribute to one of the most decent
                 and principled men I have ever met, Senator Tom Coburn.
                   Washington is going to miss Tom, but the irony of that
                 is Tom really can't stand Washington. When he first got
                 here, the feeling appeared to be mutual. Some just didn't
                 know what to make of this doctor from Oklahoma--so
                 frequently on the losing end of lopsided votes, so often
                 pressing ahead on his own and never giving up. That was
                 apparent from his days in the House, when we hear he led
                 the only ``filibuster'' in the House anybody can ever
                 remember. He may have placed more holds than any
                 equivalent Senator in history. He apparently placed a hold
                 on his own bill once.
                   Fast forward to today. The pundit class has declared Tom
                 Coburn a card-carrying member of the establishment. The
                 rebel who once described himself as a kamikaze pilot has
                 now been branded, incredibly, with a scarlet ``E'' right
                 on his forehead. It may seem contradictory, but Tom always
                 fought smart battles--the kind you might lose today but
                 win later--and he forged an amazing bond with the people
                 he represents. For Tom that meant spending as much time
                 away from Washington as possible and making himself
                 available when he was home.
                   Tom published his address, and Oklahomans were never shy
                 about coming over to share their opinions. Tom was never
                 shy about sharing how he felt either. He believed his
                 constituents deserved the truth. He gave it to them
                 absolutely unvarnished, but he did it in a respectful way.
                   It reminds me of the two posters he has framed on either
                 side of his desk. One says: ``NO,'' N-O. The other says
                 ``KNOW,'' K-N-O-W. That is Tom in a nutshell. It is why
                 Tom has made so many friends on both sides of the aisle.
                 It is why you can't flip on MSNBC most mornings without
                 seeing him.
                   I think Tom actually prefers these settings. It is a
                 challenge he relishes. Not only is Tom confident enough to
                 tangle with anyone, he usually wins, and he rarely makes
                 lasting enemies. It is a trait that has served him well,
                 particularly at the beginning of his career.
                   Tom first came to Washington representing a district
                 that was heavily Democratic. He won a close race that
                 year. I am told he also gained a friend, and that friend
                 was the Democrat he defeated. His opponent's grandson
                 actually ended up joining Tom's staff, which obviously is
                 a great honor.
                   But it is no picnic being on Tom's staff. Tom works his
                 staff hard. It is difficult even to take a sick day over
                 there. Tom has always got the stethoscope nearby. If the
                 doctor is in, so are you. Yet the people on Tom's team
                 seem to love him. ``Once a member of Coburn's family,
                 always a member.'' That is their motto.
                   It doesn't mean they love everything about him. Take his
                 handwriting; it is just what you would expect from a guy
                 named Dr. Coburn. It is absolutely awful--a mix of chicken
                 scratch, hieroglyphics, and vocabulary from the extra
                 credit section of an MCAT.
                   Back in the 1990s one staffer made the mistake of
                 letting Tom take a yellow highlighter back to Oklahoma.
                 Tom spent the entire weekend marking up a massive bill.
                 There were handwritten notes and questions in nearly every
                 margin. It took literally days to decipher any of it. It
                 was like something out of a Dan Brown novel. Needless to
                 say, an office ban on yellow highlighters was quickly
                 implemented.
                   So the legacy of Tom's former profession gets him in
                 trouble sometimes, but it remains the job he enjoyed most:
                 helping to deliver new lives into the world. It brings a
                 unique perspective to Tom's work in the Senate. It
                 instilled a lasting appreciation for life too.
                   Even though Tom has stopped delivering babies these
                 days, he still travels back to Oklahoma a lot. There is
                 nowhere he would rather be than his hometown of Muskogee,
                 and there is almost nothing he would rather be doing there
                 than mowing his lawn or eating a sandwich at his favorite
                 barbecue joint or sipping a cold Coors with olives. He
                 prefers these things over almost anything else, except
                 spending time with his grandkids and of course his wife
                 Carolyn.
                   Tom has known Carolyn since grade school. She has always
                 been the one to keep him balanced and grounded. She
                 doesn't care that he is a Senator. She frequently reminds
                 him of that too.
                   Carolyn is also the reason Tom is such good friends with
                 President Obama. Both men came to the Senate the same
                 year. At freshman orientation, Carolyn spotted Michelle
                 Obama from across the room. ``She looks like fun,''
                 Carolyn said. ``Let's sit next to her.'' The rest, as they
                 say, is history, and it is also remarkable. Because when
                 Tom announced his retirement, warm sentiments poured in
                 from across the political spectrum. It was a day--listen
                 to this--when Barack Obama and Jim DeMint found something
                 to agree on. It must have brought some joy to Tom at such
                 a difficult time.
                   As he departs the Senate, Tom will leave one battle
                 behind to confront another. We are sending him every best
                 wish in that fight. We are keeping him in our prayers. We
                 know he will prevail, but he is really going to be missed
                 around here. He is just the type of citizen legislator our
                 Founders envisioned.
                   Tom has poured over more oversight documents than anyone
                 cares to imagine. His ``Wastebook'' has become an annual
                 phenomenon. It helps drive the conversation on spending.
                 He has led on issues like HIV and malaria.
                   The Senate will lose a critical leader on intelligence
                 oversight when he leaves. Tom played an invaluable role on
                 the Intelligence Committee, where he brought a unique
                 blend of integrity, analytical rigor, and dogged
                 determination. He served our Nation selflessly, toiling
                 for hours every week in a secure hearing room, learning
                 many sensitive matters he could not discuss with others.
                   He worked closely with another extraordinary departing
                 colleague, Vice Chair Saxby Chambliss, to ensure that our
                 Nation's intelligence community retains the tools
                 necessary to defend our country.
                   If anyone thinks our Nation's classified programs aren't
                 overseen rigorously, they certainly haven't met Tom
                 Coburn. He brought a skeptic's eye and a professional
                 determination to the task. His probing lines of
                 questioning earned the respect of his colleagues and
                 helped the intelligence community craft stronger programs,
                 while also reminding us of the value of many other
                 intelligence activities.
                   Now, Tom has obviously done a lot to earn his reputation
                 as a hawk on the budget, too. His interest there was never
                 about the baubles of office. It is about solutions. That
                 is why Tom actually volunteered for Simpson-Bowles. That
                 is why he lobbied me to actually take him off--believe it
                 or not--of the Finance Committee.
                   You always know where Tom stands. I am told he was
                 overseas with a couple of other Senators when a government
                 minister launched into a finger-wagging harangue about our
                 country. Tom couldn't take it after he listened for a few
                 minutes. He cut him off, told the minister what he thought
                 of him, and caught the next flight home. So Tom is
                 literally one of a kind. We are not likely to see another
                 one like this guy.
                   Here is what former Senator Kyl had to say about him:
                 ``Tom is like your conscience. You can try to ignore him,
                 but you know he's right even when you wish he weren't.''
                   Some people may think Tom is a member of the
                 establishment now, but the truth is Tom never changed.
                 Washington changed. America changed.
                   People recognize the wisdom of his ideas--about leaving
                 a better country to the next generation, about giving
                 Americans the freedom and the opportunity to achieve real
                 meaning and lasting happiness in their lives.
                   We are going to miss the Senator who actually likes to
                 get his hands dirty, who actually likes to legislate. We
                 are going to miss the Senator who is so devoted to
                 procedure that he sleeps next to Marty Gold's book, and we
                 are going to miss a friend who understands that honest
                 compromise is necessary to achieve anything in a
                 pluralistic society. We are all going to miss Tom a lot.
                 But he can retire with pride, and he should know that we
                 are sending him our best wishes for a speedy recovery and
                 a joyful retirement.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.

                   Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I was not at all surprised
                 as I listened to the words of our colleague Senator Tom
                 Coburn that he quoted extensively from the Declaration of
                 Independence and he referred to our Constitution--the
                 founding documents of our great country.
                   When America's Founders conceived of a nation of citizen
                 legislators, they had leaders like Senator Tom Coburn in
                 mind. Indeed, throughout his service in Congress, he has
                 remained a compassionate physician, a devoted husband and
                 father, a fierce defender of the rights enshrined in our
                 Constitution, and an unwavering opponent of excessive
                 spending.
                   Senator Coburn may be best known as our most diligent
                 fiscal watchdog, relentlessly hounding wasteful spending.
                 His annual ``Wastebook'' report is a call for transparency
                 and accountability in the Federal Government that has
                 guided oversight investigations and policy debates.
                   The aspect of his service in the Senate that deserves
                 just as much acclaim is his work on the Senate Homeland
                 Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Select
                 Committee on Intelligence. Serving with Senator Coburn on
                 both of those committees for many years, I have seen first
                 hand his brilliance, his tenacity, and his determination
                 to strengthen our Nation and the safety of our people. He
                 has a keen understanding of the grave and ever-evolving
                 threats that our Nation faces.
                   As a citizen legislator, Senator Coburn leads by example
                 and with compassion. With his expertise as a physician, he
                 has been a leader in promoting wellness, disease
                 prevention, combating HIV/AIDS, and advancing biomedical
                 research. When it comes to fiscal responsibility, he walks
                 the walk, having returned more than $1 million from his
                 Senate office budget to the American taxpayers.
                   We have heard many descriptions of Tom Coburn today, but
                 the word I most associate with him is ``integrity.'' He is
                 a man of the utmost integrity, who always stands tall for
                 his principles and for what he believes in. He sets an
                 example for all of us who seek to serve the public.
                   On a personal note, I want to thank Senator Coburn for
                 hounding me into joining a Women's Prayer Breakfast that
                 meets each week and has introduced me to a number of
                 wonderful women from the House of Representatives who have
                 become my close friends as well as colleagues. I use the
                 word ``hound'' appropriately. He mentioned it to me so
                 many times that eventually I gave in and went to one of
                 those breakfasts, and, indeed, it has been a spiritually
                 enriching experience that I never would have had but for
                 Tom continuing to press me to attend.
                   This past January Senator Coburn announced his intention
                 to leave the Senate, due in part to his deepening health
                 problems--problems he has faced with extraordinary
                 courage. This somber news was counterbalanced by his
                 overarching concern, not for himself, but for his family
                 and for the people of his State and our Nation.
                   As he now returns to the life of a private citizen, I
                 wish him every success in combating his illness, and I
                 thank him for his truly extraordinary service to our
                 country. To quote from Scripture, I think everyone would
                 agree with these words when it comes to Tom Coburn: ``Well
                 done, good and faithful servant.''

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.

                   Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I have no prepared remarks. I
                 am trying to speak right from my heart, and my heart is
                 full.
                   I want to start off by thanking Tom for the very kind
                 comments he made about serving with me. We met 10 years
                 ago. He was that bomb thrower--still is a little bit--that
                 Saxby talked about when they were elected 20 years ago. I
                 was one of the people who came up, along with Lamar
                 Alexander, George Voinovich, and Mark Pryor, for an
                 orientation for new Senators so that when they got here we
                 could actually spend some time and teach the new guys and
                 gals the ropes.
                   I remember the first day we convened and put them all in
                 a big circle in Ted Stevens' office, a beautiful office
                 here in the Capitol, and out of those 3 days Tom and
                 Carolyn and Michelle and Barack began to bond and became
                 friends. I didn't know how close friends they were until
                 about 4 or 5 years ago. Barack Obama had given the State
                 of the Union Address. I was sitting on the Republican
                 side. There was a time when we actually went back and
                 forth to try to mix things up. The President finished his
                 speech, and there is no ropeline at those speeches. The
                 President came along to shake hands with people. I was
                 sitting next to Tom, and we walked down so we could say hi
                 to the President.
                   I will never forget what the President said to him. In
                 just the quiet between the two of them--they embraced, and
                 the President said to him, ``Are you still praying for
                 me?'' Very quietly, Tom Coburn said, ``Every night.''
                   Just like that--they didn't agree on everything, but
                 they were friends. They are friends, and they will always
                 be friends. I hope Tom and I will be as well.
                   I remember sitting up there where Cory Booker, our new
                 Senator from New Jersey, is sitting now, listening to Mike
                 Enzi talking about how he worked so well with Ted Kennedy,
                 one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate, and Mike
                 Enzi, one of the most conservative--and how they got
                 extraordinary amounts of stuff done.
                   I just want to say that the legislation coming out of
                 our committee--and Senator Collins has led that committee
                 before--is moving through this body and the House--it is
                 really pretty amazing--to strengthen our cyberdefenses, to
                 take the chemical facility antiterrorism law that Susan
                 Collins authored and to make it better and make it real,
                 to better protect our Nation's information from attacks
                 from all over the world, to try to make our Postal Service
                 not just relevant and not just hanging on but actually
                 vibrant and real.
                   But that day, Mike Enzi talked about the 80/20 rule with
                 Ted Kennedy. He said, ``Ted Kennedy and I agree on about
                 80 percent of the stuff, and we disagree on 20 percent. He
                 and I decided to focus on the 80 percent we agreed on and
                 set aside the 20 percent we didn't agree on to another
                 day.''
                   I call that the ``Enzi rule,'' and that has helped guide
                 me here in the Senate, and it certainly has helped to
                 guide me in the work I have been privileged to do with Dr.
                 Coburn.
                   When I became chairman of the committee about 2 years
                 ago and Dr. Coburn was going to be the ranking member of
                 the committee, somebody asked me what it was going to be
                 like. ``How are you going to work with this guy?''
                   I said, ``It is going to be a little like a marriage.
                 You have to work at it every day. Everybody has to give
                 and meet somewhere in the middle.''
                   I love to ask people who have been married a long time
                 what the secret is for being married a long time. Some of
                 you have maybe heard me talk about this. I get some really
                 hilarious answers but also some really terrific and
                 insightful answers.
                   I think the best one I have ever gotten when I asked
                 what is the secret for being married 40, 50, 60, 70 years
                 is the two c's. It is not Coburn and Carper. It is the two
                 c's: communicate and compromise. That is not only the
                 secret for a vibrant, long marriage for two people; it is
                 a secret for a vibrant democracy.
                   I believe the reason why Tom and I have had this
                 partnership that I think has been productive is, one, we
                 surround ourselves with people--certainly for me--smarter
                 than us. The second thing is we believe in communicating,
                 we believe in compromising, and we believe in
                 collaborating. I think the American people are the
                 beneficiaries of that.
                   We have a reception later today for Tom, and I hope he
                 comes. We will have the opportunity to say some more
                 things, as well. He is not the kind of person who likes to
                 be praised, so this is probably punishment. There is a
                 verse in the Scriptures talking about heaping with praise,
                 pouring praise all over. This is probably a little like
                 that. But I want to close with this. His words on the
                 Bowles-Simpson Commission are for the ages, and I hope we
                 will never walk away from the lessons he showed us with
                 his courage in supporting that work and helping to craft
                 that work.
                   There are words in the Scriptures, in Matthew 25, that
                 talk about the least of these in our society. When I was
                 sick, when I was hungry, when I was thirsty, when I was
                 naked, when I was in prison--those are the questions. The
                 answer: If you have done it to the least of these, you
                 have done it also to Me.
                   Senator Coburn believes we have a moral responsibility,
                 a moral obligation to the least of these in our society.
                 He also believes we have a fiscal obligation, a fiscal
                 imperative to meet that moral obligation in a fiscally
                 responsible way. I think those two ideas guide him in his
                 work, and, frankly, it is an inspiration to me.
                   Last word. Leaders should be humble, not haughty.
                 Leaders should lead by our example, not ``do as I say''
                 but ``do as I do.'' Leaders should have the heart of a
                 servant. Leaders should have the courage to stay out of
                 step when everyone else is marching to the wrong tune.
                 Leaders ought to be committed to doing what is right, not
                 what is easy. Leaders should treat other people the way
                 they want to be treated. Tom has offended just about
                 everybody in this body, but he always comes back and
                 apologizes, and he has already done it here today. Leaders
                 should focus on excellence in everything they do. If it
                 isn't perfect, make it better. It is in the preamble of
                 the Constitution--``in order to form a more perfect
                 Union.'' That defines him. Finally, if you think you are
                 right and you know you are right, never give up. That is
                 what a leader should be about.
                   For the years he served here and for a long time before
                 that and for a long time to come, he has been that leader,
                 and I feel lucky to say he is my friend.
                   God bless you.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.

                   Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I feel surrounded by friends
                 and colleagues who are getting ready to leave, and being
                 part of that original class 20 years ago, there is one
                 thing that I have learned is unique in Washington. I am
                 next to two people who are voluntarily leaving. The
                 toughest decision a Member of Congress ever makes is to
                 leave this institution voluntarily. I know that for my two
                 friends and my third one, Mike Johanns, this was not easy.
                 It is not easy to stand here and know that in January they
                 are not going to be here any longer, because they are
                 truly friends, and that is tough.
                   To say that Tom Coburn can be intimidating I think is an
                 understatement, and I think that comes because his breadth
                 of knowledge based upon his experiences in life enables
                 him to be an expert on a lot of issues.
                   With that in mind, I remember the day Tom sat down--we
                 were leaving that week, and I said, ``What are you going
                 to do this weekend?'' And he said, ``Well, Sarah's future
                 fiance is coming to sit down with me to find out whether
                 he can marry my daughter.'' I looked at him and thought, I
                 would hate to be that young man.
                   Well, the truth is that Tom is a very intimidating guy.
                 He plays hard, and he plays to win.
                   There is not an individual I know who is more fair and
                 more compassionate than Tom Coburn. I remember the day the
                 Bush administration wanted to extend the PEPFAR Program--
                 the AIDS in Africa program--and when Tom found out that
                 they were going to relax the requirement on how many
                 people were treated and that more money would go to
                 education than to actually saving lives, he grabbed me and
                 he said, ``We can't let this stand. We've got to fight it.
                 We've got to change it.'' It was Tom Coburn who blocked
                 the reauthorization of President Bush's PEPFAR plan for 6
                 months--a Republican President, a Republican Senator. Why?
                 On principle.
                   Tom Coburn, if you didn't know it before this speech
                 today, has never done anything in this institution or in
                 life that wasn't based upon principle. No Member of
                 Congress should ever question whether he thinks he is
                 right because if he didn't think he was right, he wouldn't
                 fight so hard.
                   It is particularly difficult for me to say goodbye to
                 Tom. We truly are legislative partners. We fought a lot of
                 battles for a long time, and inherently we have a level of
                 trust in each other that I would actually sign on to
                 legislation that I had no idea what it did; I just knew
                 that in that foxhole he needed somebody he could count on,
                 and I knew when he signed on to something that I needed,
                 that there was always somebody there to cover my back.
                   The institution is losing something significant when we
                 no longer have that legislative expertise Tom Coburn
                 represents.
                   There are a lot of descriptions that people have used
                 today and that people will use in the future to describe
                 Tom Coburn, but I would boil it down to two words that I
                 think best describe him: Tom Coburn is a good man. In
                 every sense of the word, he is a good man. This
                 institution will lose a great leader when Tom Coburn
                 retires.
                   Godspeed, Tom.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.

                   Mr. SCHUMER. I will be very brief. I know people are
                 waiting to speak.
                   I guess it would surprise the world in general to know
                 that Tom Coburn and I are true friends, but we are. He is
                 a man of integrity above all.
                   You don't have to agree with someone--we probably
                 disagree on 90 percent of all the issues--to trust
                 someone's integrity, to trust someone's handshake, to
                 trust someone that if you make a good argument,
                 understanding their values, they will come along. That is
                 just what Tom Coburn has done time and time again with
                 this Senator from New York and countless others on the
                 other side of the aisle.
                   On so many issues where Tom was opposed, I said, ``Let's
                 just sit down and let me give you the logic and then you
                 will make your own judgment.'' I knew that would be good
                 enough. Sometimes it didn't work. Sometimes he disagreed.
                 But he always sat and listened. He always asked perceptive
                 questions, not ``gotcha'' questions. He was trying to
                 figure it out.
                   Of course the most well known was when we negotiated on
                 the Zadroga bill. Thousands of New Yorkers had rushed to
                 the Towers and gotten poison in their lungs and their
                 gastrointestinal systems, and we wanted to help them. We
                 thought they were just like our veterans. Tom knew it was
                 a big expense. He sat with us, listened, made suggestions
                 to make it leaner and trimmer, and then supported the
                 bill. So right now there are people alive throughout the
                 New York area, heroes, because of the integrity of that
                 man from Oklahoma.
                   Tom, I will miss you. This body will miss you.
                 Regardless of our ideological views and perceptions, we
                 will miss you. You are a great American.
                   I yield the floor.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.

                   Mr. MANCHIN. First of all, there is not a whole lot that
                 needs to be said that hasn't been said, but one thing I
                 want to say to my dear friend Tom Coburn is that he made
                 Washington happen for me, if you will. He made it more
                 tolerable. I had a hard time in transitioning. Tom reached
                 out. He saw that. We talked about this before, but Tom
                 made this place more palatable.
                   Tom, you have expanded my area of friendships with more
                 people than you know and the right type of people, and I
                 appreciate it I think more than you even know.
                   I will end with this, and I don't mean to say a lot. I
                 have been asked about Tom Coburn. How would I explain him?
                 Tom Coburn's got soul. I mean that from the bottom of my
                 heart, brother. You have soul, and I thank you for what
                 soul you brought to this place.
                   God bless.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

                   Mr. FLAKE. Fourteen years ago I entered the House of
                 Representatives. I had been elected, but before I took
                 office, I traveled to Washington, and Matt Salmon, the
                 Congressman I was replacing, said, ``Is there anybody you
                 want to meet?'' And I said, ``Tom Coburn.'' I had watched
                 from afar what he had done on the Appropriations Committee
                 and the stands he had taken, and I admired him. I went and
                 visited with him in his office while he was packing up his
                 stuff. I will never forget that. I have to say that today
                 I admire him even more than I did then, having watched him
                 go back into the private sector and then enter the Senate.
                   Columnist George Will said Tom Coburn was the most
                 dangerous creature that could come into the Senate. Why?
                 Because he is simply uninterested in being popular. I
                 think that is certainly true. But if he didn't care about
                 it, it happened anyway. I have news for Tom. As you can
                 see around, he has become popular. But one thing he never
                 managed to achieve, if he sought it, was becoming
                 partisan. When you hear those across the aisle lavish
                 praise on this man, realize that was never one of his
                 goals and never happened, much to his credit.
                   I thank you and your staff for your generosity over the
                 years to me and my staff and for what you have done for
                 this institution, for your colleagues, and for me
                 personally.
                   I yield back.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.

                   Mr. KING. Mr. President, I probably have known Tom for
                 the least length of time of anybody in this Chamber, and I
                 want to offer some comments from the perspective of only 2
                 years and really more like a year and a half since we
                 became friends and colleagues.
                   I have seen Senator Coburn in two contexts--one is
                 intelligence and the other is faith. He and I serve on the
                 Intelligence Committee. We sit directly across from each
                 other. That committee is generally a nonpartisan one, but
                 it is also one where all the meetings generally are
                 closed. There is no press. You can really take the measure
                 of someone when they ask questions and participate in a
                 debate in that forum.
                   His questions always struck me as the questions I wished
                 I had asked, and they struck me as the questions I am sure
                 the people of America would have wanted asked. They were
                 penetrating, they cut through obfuscation, and they were
                 always meaningful and helped us move toward the important
                 work that committee has to accomplish.
                   I have also become acquainted with him through our faith
                 and participation in the Wednesday Prayer Breakfasts, and
                 more recently, for reasons that I am not entirely sure, he
                 has invited me to join him on Tuesday evenings for dinners
                 on the other side of the Capitol that have been very
                 meaningful.
                   For the 9 years before I came here, I taught a course
                 called ``Leaders and Leadership,'' and I taught it at a
                 couple of colleges in Maine. I taught it really as much
                 for myself as for my students because I wanted to try to
                 understand what leadership was, and I thought if I signed
                 on to teach it, I would have to learn something about it.
                 Every year what we did was go through and discuss the
                 stories of great leaders throughout history, some well
                 known and some not so well known. We always started with
                 Ernest Shackleton. We talked about Eleanor Roosevelt and
                 Margaret Thatcher and Martin Luther King and Lincoln and
                 Churchill. We always tried to define the qualities that
                 make a leader, and there are lots of them--perseverance,
                 communication, vision, teamwork, trust--but the last one
                 on the list and the one that brings me back to Tom is
                 always character. It is an indefinable quality. You cannot
                 really put a specific definition to it, but people like
                 Lincoln had it, Ernest Shackleton had it, Joshua Lawrence
                 Chamberlain from Maine had it, Eleanor Roosevelt had it.
                 It involves a combination of qualities that Tom embodies,
                 and almost all of them have been mentioned here today--
                 integrity, intelligence, honesty, faith, belief in
                 principle, and daring to stand for principle. It is the
                 hardest thing to teach, but it is the easiest thing to
                 see. The reason I felt so privileged to get to know this
                 man for such a short period of time is that he has shown
                 me what character is all about.
                   Tom, it is one of the great joys of my life to have had
                 these 2 years to get to know you, if only slightly. It is
                 one of the great sadnesses of my life that it has only
                 been 2 years.
                   Godspeed, Tom. You have made a difference for this
                 country that we all love and honor and respect. Thank you
                 for your service and for sharing your great character with
                 all of us.
                   I yield the floor.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.

                   Mr. ISAKSON. I was elected in a special election 16
                 years ago. I was No. 435 in the House of Representatives,
                 so I did what my father told me to do when I went into
                 business. He said, ``Son, sit in the back of the room,
                 listen to people who are smart, pay attention to them, and
                 do what the smart people do.''
                   After 2 weeks of listening to Tom Coburn, I said no
                 human being could know as much about everything as this
                 guy named Coburn. In 16 years, I have come to believe,
                 yes, there is one who knows about everything he speaks of,
                 and that is Tom Coburn.
                   Senator Coburn has been a great role model for me. The
                 Senator from Oklahoma has taught me many great lessons,
                 and I have learned a lot from him.
                   The greatest evangelists in life are those who witness
                 their faith, and Tom Coburn is a true witness for his
                 faith and has changed the lives of many people. I have
                 enjoyed, as much as anything, our walk with faith at the
                 Prayer Breakfasts, in private meetings, and what we have
                 shared together.
                   Last, every Christmas I try to give my grandchildren who
                 can read something to read as a little treasury to put in
                 their book to save so that when they grow up, they can
                 refer to great things and great historical statements that
                 have been made. I doubt if there has ever been a better
                 statement made on the floor of the Senate about our
                 heritage, our country, our future, and our hopes than Tom
                 Coburn has said today. It will be required reading for my
                 grandchildren this Christmas, and I can assure you that I
                 am a better man for having served with Tom Coburn, the
                 great Senator from the State of Oklahoma.
                   God bless you, Tom.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.

                   Mr. INHOFE. The other Senator from Oklahoma.
                   I wish to make some unscripted comments, but sincere and
                 from the heart. I hope I am accurate when I say this, that
                 I think in some respect I discovered Tom Coburn. I suspect
                 that Tom and I are the only two who have ever been to
                 Adair, OK. I remember hearing that there was a
                 conservative doctor from Muskogee. I remember calling him
                 up at that time and asking him to run for the House of
                 Representatives, which he did. He kept his commitments and
                 did everything he was supposed to do. I always remember
                 that day.
                   As Senator Coburn knows, we have a place my wife and I
                 built on a big lake in Oklahoma back in 1962--a long time
                 ago. When I drive up there, I go through Adair, and I go
                 by that little sheltered area that is half torn down now.
                 They tore down the biggest bank in town. Every time I go
                 by there, I have to say I recall meeting for the first
                 time with a young doctor named Tom Coburn.
                   I regret to say there are times in our service together
                 when we have not been in agreement on specific issues, and
                 I think we have a characteristic in common. I think we are
                 both kind of bullheaded, which has created some temporary
                 hard feelings, but there is one thing that overshadows
                 that. Jesus has a family, and His family has a lot of
                 people in it. Some are here in this room. Tom Coburn and I
                 are brothers.
                   In the 20 years I have been here in the Senate, I don't
                 believe I heard a speech that was as touching and sincere
                 as the speech I heard from my junior Senator a few minutes
                 ago.
                   I really believe that in spite of all the things that
                 have happened--and there were some differences, but they
                 were minor--that he never ceased to be my brother, and I
                 want to ask the Senator right now to forgive me for the
                 times I have perhaps said something unintentionally that
                 was not always right and was not always from the heart.
                 But I want my junior Senator to know that I sincerely love
                 him and am going to be hurting with him with the troubles
                 he has right now, or might have in the future, and will
                 sorely miss him in this body.
                   I ask that the Record show that I sincerely love my
                 brother, Senator Coburn.
                   I yield the floor.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.

                   Mr. COATS. I have been sitting here listening to the
                 respect and the emotion of people recognizing the service
                 of Tom Coburn. I don't have a prepared speech, but I
                 second everything that has been said about Tom.
                   My emotions well up in me when I think about Tom. Tom
                 exhibits the conviction that I wish I had more of, Tom
                 exhibits the commitment I wish I had more of, and he
                 exhibits the courage I wish I had more of.
                   I remember my very dear friend Chuck Olson made this
                 statement, ``Lord, show me the kind of person You would
                 like me to be and give me the strength to be that
                 person.''
                   I feel like God has given a gift to the Senate, and
                 certainly a gift to me, by simply saying, take a look at
                 Tom Coburn. Look at the qualities he exhibits and his
                 commitment to faith. He is a pretty good model to follow.
                   Thank you, Tom.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.

                   Mr. BEGICH. I came down to give my farewell remarks, but
                 before I do, I have to make a comment about Senator
                 Coburn. Senator Coburn is absolutely what many people said
                 about his word. Yesterday was an example of that when he
                 resolved an issue.
                   There is always activity after the Senate, and I wish my
                 friend from Oklahoma the best.

                   Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I would like to make some
                 remarks about Senator Coburn.
                   Tom Coburn is one of the more remarkable Senators who
                 have served in this body--certainly since I have been
                 here. He is a man with absolute courage, conviction, and
                 dedication to make this country better. He didn't come
                 here to go through the job and go through the motions; he
                 came here to invest his great skills and his great
                 intellectual ability and to pour his drive and effort into
                 making America a better place. It is very special. It is
                 unusual. I have not seen anything like it, as I said,
                 since I have been here.
                   I always had great reluctance to disagree or oppose
                 anything Tom offered. They were not always perfect, but
                 basically I opposed them so seldom because I agreed with
                 him time and time again. I always hated to vote no because
                 I knew he had studied the issue, understood it, and was
                 doing what he believed was right.
                   His whole philosophy and approach to government, had it
                 been more effectively followed by other Members of this
                 body, would have led us to a better country. To support
                 what he said, I think in a way, was supporting high ideals
                 for America.
                   I want to say I am going to miss him. People have no
                 idea how many times he has stopped or altered bad
                 legislation to make it better and less problematic and
                 more principled. He believes that ours is a
                 constitutionally limited government. He didn't just
                 believe that, he acted on it and has acted on it
                 consistently.
                   I understand, and I have no doubt of this--we don't need
                 to run a test--but I understand and have no doubt that he
                 has offered more amendments since I have been in the
                 Senate than any other Senator. They have been amendments
                 to stop waste, fraud, and abuse, to make the government
                 more efficient, leaner, to consolidate multiple programs
                 that should be consolidated for efficiency.
                   He has worked across the aisle on a host of issues. He
                 has sought bipartisan support for matters that are small
                 and large. It is remarkable. I have to say that we are
                 going to lose someone who is of great value. He would
                 easily have been reelected had he run again.
                   I remember him saying one time--and this is his
                 philosophy--if you want to be reelected, don't worry about
                 being reelected, just do the right thing, and you won't
                 have any difficulties. He never had any difficulties in
                 his election, because people trusted him. They knew every
                 day, night and day, long hours, whatever, he was working
                 to advance the common interest of our country. They
                 trusted that he was not seduced, bought out, compromised
                 by the powers that be in Washington, DC, and he remained
                 true to those who sent him here.
                   I would say this: Part of the strength he has--as a
                 matter of fact, maybe the greatest part of his strength is
                 his faith. He is intelligent, sophisticated,
                 knowledgeable, a scientist, a doctor, but a man of simple
                 Christian faith which impacts his life as much as anybody
                 in this body. He understands the true meaning of life, and
                 he gives himself to others in a most remarkable way.
                   Thank you, and colleagues, for the opportunity for me to
                 share these remarks. We are going to miss our friend Tom
                 Coburn, who is going to object to those bills that require
                 a lot of effort to make them better or stop some that are
                 so bad they cannot be passed. A lot of us are going to
                 have to pick up the slack.
                   Maybe Tom would say, ``What are you doing down here,
                 Jeff, wasting time talking about me when you ought to be
                 studying this bill and finding some of the bogus spending
                 that is in it? You should be spending your time fixing
                 it.''
                   But every now and then I think we should stop and
                 recognize an extraordinary life and an extraordinary
                 Senator.
                   I wanted to share these remarks.
                   I thank the Chair and yield the floor and suggest the
                 absence of a quorum.
                                                  Friday, December 12, 2014
                   Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I will now speak very briefly
                 about my retiring colleagues and then turn it over to the
                 Senator from Florida. I promise I will be brief.
                   Everybody will face retirement, voluntarily or
                 involuntarily. There will be a last vote to cast and a
                 last speech to make. Only God knows when that day comes
                 because we are all just one car wreck away from ending our
                 careers.
                   To the retiring Members, I have had the pleasure of
                 serving with you, and I know you all. You did what you
                 thought was best for our country and your State, and what
                 more could anyone ask? My good friend Mark Pryor, who
                 tried to find common ground at a time when it is hard to
                 find. Mary Landrieu, who would drill under the Capitol if
                 she thought it would help American energy independence. We
                 have good friends on the other side, and I will miss you,
                 and I wish you well. But I would like very briefly to
                 speak about four. ...
                   To Tom Coburn, when I grow up, I want to be like Tom. I
                 don't see that happening anytime soon, me growing up. Tom
                 Coburn has been at this for 20 years. We came in together.
                 He was one of the first people I met in the freshman class
                 of 1995--the 1994 Contract with America class. He was full
                 of ideas and determination from the first day I met him
                 until the very last day he leaves.
                   I cannot tell you, Tom, how proud I am to call you my
                 friend. You and Carolyn have become dear friends, and you,
                 my friend, have changed this body for the better. You had
                 an awesome staff, and you will be missed, but what you
                 contributed to the Senate will last long after I am gone,
                 and we will all be the better. ...
                   To all of you, Godspeed. I wish you nothing but the
                 best.
                   I am fortunate enough to go into my third term. To my
                 colleagues, as we go into the next Congress, let's try to
                 do better. I know we can. If we do, all boats will rise.

                   Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I pay tribute to my friend
                 Tom Coburn as he prepares to leave the Senate. For 10
                 years, Tom has served the people of Oklahoma as their
                 junior Senator. He is a man of principle and fierce
                 determination. He has shown himself willing time and again
                 to stand up to special interests and to fight for what he
                 believes in. He will be missed.
                   Senator Coburn was born in Casper, WY, in 1948, and was
                 raised in Muskogee, OK. His father Orin was a prominent
                 optician and the founder of Coburn Optical Industries. Tom
                 attended college at Oklahoma State University, where he
                 graduated with a degree in accounting. From 1970 to 1978
                 he was a manufacturing manager at his family's company.
                 After a bout with cancer, Tom returned to school to become
                 a physician, graduating in 1983 from the University of
                 Oklahoma Medical School. Following his residency, Tom
                 moved back to Muskogee to practice family medicine and
                 obstetrics. He has personally delivered more than 4,000
                 babies.
                   Senator Coburn began his career in public service in
                 1994, when he was elected to the U.S. House of
                 Representatives from Oklahoma. He served in the House for
                 6 years, then went back to Muskogee to resume his medical
                 practice. Three years later, in 2004, Tom was elected to
                 the U.S. Senate to fill the seat being vacated by retiring
                 Senator Don Nickles. Here in the Senate he has served with
                 distinction on a number of important committees, including
                 the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs,
                 of which he is the ranking member.
                   Since first arriving in Congress, Senator Coburn has
                 been a strong proponent of fiscal restraint. His efforts
                 to fight deficit spending, pork barrel projects, and
                 earmarks earned him the nickname ``Dr. No.'' I have always
                 thought this nickname was a compliment to Tom. It shows he
                 is willing to stand up against powerful interests in
                 defense of his principles, and that he takes seriously the
                 problems of unnecessary spending and long-term debt.
                 Passing a balanced budget amendment has been a priority of
                 mine for many years, and I have been glad to count Tom as
                 a strong ally in that effort.
                   I have also been fortunate to work with Senator Coburn
                 on a number of other issues during his time in the Senate.
                 Earlier this year, Tom and I, along with Senator Richard
                 Burr, introduced the Patient CARE Act, a market-based
                 alternative to Obamacare. Tom and I have also worked
                 together to fight waste and corruption at the Department
                 of Health and Human Services and to reinvigorate the
                 States' roles in meeting transportation, safety, and other
                 needs.
                   Madam President, Senator Coburn is an honorable and
                 steadfast man. He has served his country well. I wish him,
                 his wife Carolyn, and their family the very best.

                   Mr. ENZI. Madam President, at the close of each session
                 of Congress it is our tradition to take a moment to
                 express our appreciation and say goodbye to those of our
                 colleagues who will be retiring at the session's close. It
                 is always a bittersweet moment to reflect on the important
                 contributions our friends have made as they worked so hard
                 to represent their States and our Nation.
                   Such an individual is Tom Coburn and that is just one of
                 the reasons why we will miss him. Tom always has and
                 always will be a strong voice for conservative values and
                 principles. There are not many who can express their
                 beliefs with the same kind of clarity and power he brings
                 to the issues the Senate takes up for deliberations.
                   I will always believe that Tom has been so successful in
                 his career as a political leader and a doctor because he
                 began his life with one of the greatest of all
                 advantages--he was born in Wyoming, in Casper. That was
                 not all. He graduated from Oklahoma State University with
                 a degree in accounting. As an accountant myself I was not
                 surprised by that. His love of accounting, his fondness
                 for numbers and details, and his Wyoming birth all help to
                 explain his power of persuasion.
                   I am kidding about that but one thing that is true about
                 his background is how his love of numbers and his
                 understanding of budgets and accounting practices has
                 helped him to understand the financial problems we
                 currently face as a nation and the importance of taking
                 action to address them before they get so far out of hand
                 we will be jeopardizing the future of our children and our
                 grandchildren.
                   That would have never happened on Tom's watch.
                 Grandfathers are like that. With one eye on the bottom
                 line and the other on the future of our Nation, Tom has
                 developed an amazing knack for finding ways to cut waste
                 and save money, time, and effort. For Tom it is clear, if
                 it is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well.
                   His insight and his immediate grasp of the essence of so
                 many controversial and complicated issues has made him a
                 great asset on the committees on which he has served. His
                 willingness to get involved and lead on some pretty
                 difficult issues has enabled him to make a difference that
                 will be remembered around here for quite a while.
                   In our deliberations one of Tom's great weapons has been
                 his mastery and understanding of the facts surrounding his
                 positions on the issues we have taken up in committee and
                 on the floor. He is an excellent speaker and when he talks
                 we are all very attentive. The reason why is simple. If
                 you agree with him you want to know what his views are so
                 you will be able to strengthen your own arguments on the
                 bill with some of his reflections and recommendations. If
                 you disagree with him you will still want to hear him
                 speak so you will know what the toughest arguments are you
                 will be faced with during our deliberations.
                   No matter what side you are on, it is rare that anyone
                 has ever questioned his facts. They may not like them--but
                 you cannot avoid acknowledging them.
                   In addition, as a father, a grandfather, and a
                 physician, Tom has been an outspoken advocate on health
                 and medical issues. During his career he has worked to
                 increase the access of seniors to the health care services
                 they need. He has also been active in efforts to try to
                 control health care costs and protect the right to life of
                 the unborn.
                   He has such a strong kinship with the delegations of the
                 West because Tom has a strong and heartfelt understanding
                 of the challenges of our urban communities. I have often
                 said one of our great battles here in Washington is to
                 help our colleagues get a deeper understanding of the
                 difference in life in the large eastern cities and the
                 smaller rural communities of the West. It is a crucial
                 difference that must be understood to get a better sense
                 of what is needed to help both our rural and urban
                 communities to grow and prosper.
                   In the next session I know we will miss him, his
                 understanding of our conservative values and principles
                 and his commitment to this generation and the next--and
                 beyond. Tom knows that if future generations are to have
                 it as good as we have we will all have to learn to get
                 along with a little less.
                   Now Tom is closing that great chapter of his life that
                 contains his service in the House and the Senate. It has
                 not been easy. The House and Senate are very different
                 places in which to work--and make progress--but Tom has
                 managed to do it--and he has the results to show for his
                 efforts.
                   Thank you, Tom, for all you have done to make our Nation
                 a better place to live. We are grateful for your service,
                 for your vision for America and most of all, your
                 commitment to the future of Oklahoma and our Nation.
                 Please keep in touch with us. I am going to keep your
                 number on speed dial in my office so I'll have it when one
                 of those days comes along when I need a thoughtful word or
                 two for a debate or a committee session. As the saying
                 goes, facts are tough and powerful things and when it
                 comes to those issues in which he truly believes, so is
                 Tom Coburn.
                                                  Monday, December 15, 2014
                   Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, while several Members of
                 this Senate class will be retiring this year at the end of
                 their terms, another Senator will also be taking his leave
                 of this Chamber, in the midst of his current term. For a
                 decade, Senator Tom Coburn has represented his
                 constituents in Oklahoma with steadfast dedication and
                 perseverance. He and I have not always agreed, but I have
                 always respected and admired his commitment to his
                 principles.
                   Senator Coburn has built a record and reputation as a
                 fiscal hawk, reminiscent in some ways of the role that the
                 late Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio assumed for many
                 years in the Senate. Senator Coburn can be a tough
                 bargainer, and sometimes he has chosen not to seek or
                 accept compromise at all. But he also has shown the
                 ability to work across the aisle, whether on reducing
                 government spending or promoting transparency in
                 government. In the first Congress in which he served in
                 the Senate, he partnered with then-Senator Barack Obama
                 and others to author the Federal Funding Accountability
                 and Transparency Act, which established a public, online
                 database detailing Federal spending. For many years he
                 served as an active member of the Senate Judiciary
                 Committee, where we worked together on such policy issues
                 as patent reform, copyright protections, and support for
                 law enforcement.
                   Senator Coburn is a longtime public servant for the
                 State of Oklahoma. Members retire from Congress for a host
                 of reasons, and I know Senator Coburn's retirement has
                 been hastened. He has left his mark on this institution,
                 and I wish him, his wife Carolyn, their three daughters
                 and their grandchildren good health and all the best in
                 Tom Coburn's retirement from the Senate.
                                                 Tuesday, December 16, 2014
                   Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, as we wind down the final days
                 of the 113th Congress, it is a good time both to reflect
                 on the past and to look toward the future. I have been
                 very moved as I listened to the farewell speeches of our
                 departing Senators, and I wish I had time to pay tribute
                 to each one of them. They have all been wonderful
                 colleagues, and I enjoyed working with and getting to know
                 every one of them. I wish them all the very best in all
                 their future endeavors. They will most certainly be
                 missed. ...

                   Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to celebrate and thank
                 the 13 outgoing Senators who have worked tirelessly to
                 represent their home States in the Senate: Senator Mark
                 Begich, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Tom Coburn,
                 Senator Kay Hagan, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Mike
                 Johanns, Senator Tim Johnson, Senator Mary Landrieu,
                 Senator Carl Levin, Senator Mark Pryor, Senator Jay
                 Rockefeller, Senator Mark Udall, and Senator John Walsh.
                   I have worked side by side with these men and women for
                 years--some for decades--and witnessed first hand their
                 extraordinary commitment to public service and to the
                 people they so proudly represent.
                   Even when we didn't see eye to eye on every issue, I
                 always deeply respected and admired their service to our
                 Nation and their dedication to fight for what they believe
                 in.
                   It has been a privilege to serve alongside each and
                 every one of these extraordinary colleagues. I will miss
                 their leadership and their friendship, and I wish them all
                 the best as they embark on the next chapter.

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