[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 19, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S2497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Tom Coburn

  Madam President, I would like to read into the Record a speech I made 
here on the Senate floor on December 11, 2014, about another Senator 
from Oklahoma. I am here with something that is very sensitive to me 
that I want to share.

       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 had a major, high 
     level national political discussion in Adair, OK. I remember 
     hearing that there was a very 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 that 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 lot of people outside of Oklahoma don't realize that Oklahoma has 
more miles of freshwater shoreline than any of the 50 States. It is a 
big lake State. She and I built our place way back a long time ago.

       When I drive up there, I go through Adair, and I go through 
     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 that 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 [short time] 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.

  Madam President, that was a speech I made on December 11, 2014, and 
it sounded funny because, after the disagreement that we had, he and I 
were talking just a short time ago, and that was well after this speech 
I made in 2014, and neither one of us could remember what issue it was 
that we disagreed on, but we knew there was one there.
  Here is the truth. There was no one like Dr. Tom Coburn. There was no 
one like him in Oklahoma. He was a simple country doctor from Muskogee. 
He was a family doctor. He delivered thousands of babies in 
Northeastern Oklahoma. I told him when he was running for the first 
time: You don't have any problems. All you have to do is get all the 
babies you delivered and have them bring their families along, and it 
will be an overwhelming victory.
  There was no one like him. He was a true fiscal conservative who 
stayed true to his purposes. He had skills that made him arguably the 
most thoughtful adviser in the Republican conference.
  I think this is somewhat characteristic of doctors. It is part of 
their culture. They advise people. People listen to them. And that was 
Tom. Tom was always an adviser to everyone. In every policy decision, 
Tom sought to be a faithful steward of the taxpayers' money and a 
dedicated public servant to Oklahoma.
  He had an impressive record of service in the House of 
Representatives, as well as serving in the Senate with me, but nothing 
about that legacy would have mattered to Tom. Tom knew what mattered in 
life. What mattered in life was his family--Carolyn and his three 
daughters.
  Carolyn, I suspect you may probably even be watching right now, and I 
want you to know how many people in this body--Tom is not here anymore, 
but how many people love you and Tom. Tom knew what was important in 
life and in Jesus. He is a brother in the Lord. He is my brother.
  He will always be a Member of this institution, but we need to make 
it official.
  So, Madam President, in honor of his life and legacy, I would like to 
ask unanimous consent that the Senate approve a resolution in honor of 
the life and legacy of Tom Coburn, a doctor from Muskogee.

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