I feel surrounded by friends and colleagues who are getting ready to leave, and being part of that original class 20 years ago, there is one thing that I have learned is extremely unique in Washington. I am next to two people who are voluntarily leaving. The toughest decision a Member of Congress ever makes is to leave this institution voluntarily. And I know that for my two friends and my third one, Mike Johanns, this was not easy. It is not easy to stand here and know that in January they are not going to be here any longer, because they are truly friends, and that is tough. To say that Tom Coburn can be intimidating I think is an understatement, and I think that comes because his breadth of knowledge based upon his experiences in life enable him to be an expert on a lot of issues. With that in mind, I remember the day Tom sat down--we were leaving that week, and I said: What are you going to do this weekend? And he said: Well, Sarah's future fiance is coming to sit down with me to find out whether he can marry my daughter. And I looked at him and thought, I would hate to be that young man. Well, the truth is that Tom is a very intimidating guy. He plays hard, and he plays to win. There is not an individual I know who is more fair and more compassionate than Tom Coburn.…
On the recordDecember 11, 2014
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