[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 113 (Tuesday, July 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S4263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Remembering James M. Inhofe

  Mr. MULLIN. Mr. President, today, I take to the floor for the first 
time. I really am not one to speak a whole lot on the floor. My time in 
the House was very limited as to how many times I spoke on the House 
floor. Then, being in the Senate, this is my first time to speak, but 
it comes on an occasion that I feel is, I guess, the right time to 
speak.
  A gentleman whom I took great pride in knowing, whom I referred to 
quite often as a grandfather, Senator Jim Inhofe, passed away, 
unfortunately, this morning.
  And I was asked right off the bat, ``Would you be willing to do some 
interviews?'' on it. And then, obviously, we were asked to speak on the 
floor.
  And I didn't even know what to say. How do you describe Senator Jim 
Inhofe, right? How do you describe his family--Miss Kay, who, from the 
first time I ever met her, she made me feel as comfortable as if I was 
her own child, just someone who took time to pet on me and love on me 
when I was trying to learn just to be in politics because politics was 
new.
  Senator Inhofe would often take me by the hand--literally, by the 
hand--and say: Hey, listen to me, son. And over time he became quite a 
mentor--I mean, quite a mentor of mine.
  And I get asked all the time: How do you plan on filling the shoes of 
Senator Inhofe? And I say: How do you fill the shoes of a gentleman 
whose middle name was ``Mountain''? How fitting is that, right? Senator 
James Mountain Inhofe, because he was a mountain of a man.
  He blazed his own trail. He was full of grit and tenacity. You always 
knew where he stood. I never doubted what his thoughts were. He would 
tell me right off the bat. When it was time for a decision to be made, 
he would get the delegation together. He would come in, and he wasn't 
someone that demanded you to go with him. He just let you know where he 
was at and why he was right. And you found a lot of respect in that. At 
the same time, if he didn't agree with you, he let you know he didn't 
agree with you. But you can respect a guy that you always know where he 
stands.
  So it saddens me deeply to know that, today, this Earth is less one 
gentleman that I think we all learned from. Everybody in this Chamber 
who knew James or Senator Inhofe knew a guy as a friend. You knew he 
was someone that you could trust.
  I remember one time--it was in 2016--my wife and I, we were making a 
decision if we were going to continue to stay in public office. Quite 
frankly, I was done. I had my fill. I came from the private sector. And 
just politics, in itself, to me, was not something that I enjoyed. I 
was ready to just throw in the towel.
  And Senator Inhofe called me. He says: Hey, come into my office, 
which, coming over from my little Senate office in Longworth, I went 
into this Taj Mahal office of Senator Inhofe's, and I just was in 
shock.
  And he said: Do me a favor. He says: Don't leave yet. And I looked at 
him. He said: Just give it time. He said: I understand it is bad right 
now. I understand it is rough. He said: But take it from a guy who came 
out of the private sector--from me--who at that time had been in office 
almost 55 years. He said: Take it from me, a guy that came out of the 
private sector, how frustrating it can be. But it can also be the most 
rewarding thing you will ever do. It can be more satisfying than 
anything you have ever built if you will just stay put because, I 
promise you, it will get better.
  And I can't say it has actually gotten better, but I can say that he 
was right, because it is gratifying. What he did is he allowed me to 
change my focus from understanding that all the outside distractions 
that can take place, all the nasty things that can happen on social 
media, the things that can be written about you that are out of your 
control, things that people automatically assume about you because you 
are in public office--that can all easily go away if you will stay 
focused on what you were elected to do, which is to serve the great 
State of Oklahoma and just focus on constituent service, focus on 
building things for the State, focus on staying passionate about what 
your passion is, and you can create such a legacy for yourself.
  I don't think Senator Inhofe ever set out to build a legacy that his 
name is built upon. He always wanted to serve, from being mayor of the 
city of Tulsa, to being a Congressman for three terms, to serving in 
the Senate for almost 30 years. All he did every day was work hard for 
Oklahoma, and I am grateful to get to know him.
  His family, the whole time he served--I have just got to brag about 
his family because, the whole time he served--which was a big thing for 
me too--it was, how do you balance the political life and the family 
life? Because if you knew Jim, Jim was--or Senator Inhofe--always going 
home. Miss Kay was his priority. If she was ill, wasn't feeling good, 
he was headed that way. And every time I talked to him on the plane, 
when we sat beside each other, when we would land, the first person he 
would call would be Miss Kay.
  And he would want to know how she is doing and want to make sure that 
this project is being complete. And sometimes he would even talk to me 
about some of the projects going on to his house. It was always a 
priority.
  And for me, who had six kids at home--and at the time when I got in 
office, my oldest was 7 years old--that was a concern of mine of how 
you can balance it.
  And he says: Markwayne, I have been doing this--like I said, at that 
time, when we first had that conversation, he had been in office for 
over 50 years. He says: I have done it, and I think I have raised some 
pretty good kids. His kids loved him. His wife loved him. His grandkids 
loved him.
  And not to talk about the way that he necessarily left the world, but 
I think he left it the way he would want to, a guy that was always 
moving. He was always on the run. He always had a project. He never sat 
still. To be able to be here one day, go through a little trouble for a 
maybe a few days, and leave this Earth and people loving you and you 
had a great reputation--I don't know how any of us would rather be 
remembered.
  And so, while I take the podium for the first time, I just want to 
say again, it is an honor to walk in that trail that he blazed because, 
as I said, I am not ever going to fill his shoes. But he built a trail, 
as people want to refer to it, as a mountain man. What did the mountain 
man do, right? The mountain man went up, and he blazed trails--new 
trails. He was in territory that no one else knew about. He blazed a 
trail that I could build a highway on, and I have full intentions of 
doing that.
  So to Miss Kay, to his kids, and to his grandkids and to all his 
family, thank you for giving so much of your time to allow Senator 
Inhofe to serve. Thank you for giving him to me and allowing me to call 
him--even though he sometimes got mad at me because he thought I was 
talking about his age. I wasn't. I meant it in an affectionate way. 
Thank you for allowing me to call him my grandfather, because I lost 
both my grandfathers. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to know 
him and to know your family. May God bless you.
  I think it is pretty evident when I say this: We are all going to 
miss him.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. ROMNEY. I ask unanimous consent that the 5:45 vote occur now.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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