[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 10 (Thursday, January 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DEREK OSBORN

  Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, no one reads the boring stuff better 
than Senator Booker from New Jersey, so I want to recognize his 
capability to be able to go through the details.
  I have a staff member who has served with me for 11 years. His name 
is Derek Osborn. He is a remarkable gentleman. He came onto our team as 
an intern. He is leaving as an attorney, as a professional, as a 
patriot, as a friend, as a brother in many ways.
  He served in just about every location we have as far as our office 
space. He started out in Oklahoma City. He served there; he served as 
an intern. We brought him on here in Washington, DC, to be able to work 
on Indian affairs issues and immigration--what he affectionately called 
his forced deployment to Washington, DC. He eventually wore us out that 
he wanted to be able to return back to Oklahoma, which I don't blame 
him, and he returned to Tulsa and has led our Tulsa office and has been 
our deputy State director.
  He is a person who is incredibly whip-smart, but he is also so warm 
in how he interacts with people. People love to be able to spend time 
with Derek just as a person, and then they ask him the hard policy 
questions, and he answers them because he is knowledgeable. But he is 
passionate first, not about issues but about people. He is also 
exceptionally funny, although please don't tell him so because that 
would just encourage him to do it even more.
  We have a lot of memories and a lot of travel--across several years 
of traveling and working together because I have given him some of the 
hardest assignments to be able to work on in our team because he was 
capable of taking every one of them on each time.
  I will never forget, though, a moment that--we were actually under 
the Trump administration at the time. We were heading out to Camp David 
for a weekend because he was doing immigration at the time, and we were 
going to do a working weekend on immigration at Camp David that 
weekend. So we headed out, headed over, got on an Osprey, and then 
headed out to Camp David to be able to land there and to be able to 
head in, and it wasn't until later that he told me he is terrified of 
helicopters and has been terrified and has never been on one. I got to 
assure him that an Osprey is actually an airplane, not a helicopter, 
although I couldn't convince him of that, actually, especially when the 
back door was open during the whole flight and he was staring right out 
into the abyss below us. It is a good moment for him to get a little 
therapy to be able to work on his fear of helicopters.

  (Mr. BOOKER assumed the Chair.)
  He has been great about mentoring young staff. He is great about 
being an encourager and somebody who is passionate about his faith and 
someone who really wants to be able to help our State and help our 
Nation.
  He is the kind of staff member whom every one of us wants to have on 
our staff all the time, and I have a fantastic team. But in the United 
States, there is only one Derek. And he has proved exceptionally 
capable on our team and in our State, and he will be sorely missed in 
the position he is in.
  I will still connect with him in the days ahead because he knows 
every barbecue place in the State, and he is a great guy just to be 
able to spend time with and be able to listen to.
  I will still continue to be able to push him in his faith, as he 
pushes me in mine, and I will check in on him. And, hopefully, at some 
point, I will be able to attend his wedding because the boy needs to 
get married, and I will be there to be able to celebrate.
  In the days ahead, I look forward to maintaining a friendship with 
someone who has been an employee and a partner in this work in this 
State.
  So I just want to be able to say thank you to a great staff member, 
Derek Osborn, and I thought you should know a little bit more about him 
before we end this day.
  With that, I yield the floor.

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