Don Nickles: “Senator Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, one of our colleagues, will soon be leaving us. I thank him for his service to his…”

“Senator Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, one of our colleagues, will soon be leaving us. I thank him for his service to his State and also to our country. For the last 6 years, I have had the pleasure of working with Senator Hutchinson. He is a neighbor; he is a friend. I have gotten to know him very well. He served on my whip team. He is a very energetic and dynamic person who I think served his State and our country very well. He served in the Arkansas State House of Representatives for 8 years. He served in the U.S. House for 4 years. I got to know him when he served in the statehouse, and I was very impressed with him. Actually, his congressional district was adjacent to that of Oklahoma. So I got to know him then. When he came to the Senate, I asked him if he would serve on my whip team, and he did. We became very good friends. He is a very energetic and committed person who did an outstanding job in the Senate. He is also a very intelligent and diligent Member. He served on the Armed Services Committee and the HELP Committee and did a fantastic job. I worked with him. I was chairman of the task force dealing with the Patients' Bill of Rights and then was made chairman of the conference on the Patients' Bill of Rights. Senator Tim Hutchinson was there all the time, trying to pass a good and affordable Patients' Bill of Rights, one that would not bankrupt employers and one that would help provide good rights for patients all across this country.”