On the recordJuly 21, 2011
thank you very much for this time to speak. Before Dr. Coburn leaves the floor, I thank him for the kind things he just said. As to Tom Coburn and I--a lot of people say: Well, that is an unlikely duo who would end up working together as much as we have and actually having the sense of trust and friendship. There are things people certainly find in me not to like, and the same is true of all of us. But I would say, there is nobody in the Senate who cares more about getting our deficits under control. He and Dick Durbin have shown terrific courage and leadership, along with others in this so-called Gang of 6, and also as members of the deficit commission, in trying to get us to a comprehensive, bipartisan solution as to how we rein in the budget deficit without destroying our economy, making sure we do not pierce the debt ceiling and have our financial world begin to crumble around us. So I very much appreciate what he said today. I heard most of it, not all of it. I have had a chance to work with him in a number of areas. What we try to do, and Senator McCaskill--who is presiding at this moment--what she tries to do, along with others of us who serve on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is we try to look in every nook and cranny of the Federal Government.…





