Tom Coburn: “I will consume what time I may and then ask for the remaining time when I finish. The first thing I would like to say is…”

“I will consume what time I may and then ask for the remaining time when I finish. The first thing I would like to say is I hold no ill will toward anybody who opposed me on this whatsoever. The Members here understand what their role is, and I understand what mine is. But I also understand that one of the things our country needs is citizen-based legislators. That is what I was in the House. During my time in the House of Representatives, nobody ever accused me of being anything other than the most hard-working there. I delivered 400 babies in 6 years while I was in the House. I never missed a vote during those times. I might have missed votes associated with the airlines or committee meetings, but I never missed a vote. I campaigned on the fact that I was going to be term limited. I am a term-limited Senator. The most I will be here is 12 years, and maybe not more than 6. But the point is: Why would I want to practice medicine? I want to practice medicine so I can be involved in what real people experience every day in this country. We don't get to see that enough. We don't get to see that at townhall meetings when we give speeches. But I will tell you that sitting in the middle of a patient's room when there is conflict in a family or death and dying or a new complication associated with an old disease and lives get impacted, I get to measure and I get to see what none of you get to see--what we do and how it affects people.…”