On the recordDecember 11, 2014
Mr. President, we have all just heard a very moving, a very inspirational and what I considered 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.…





