Welcoming the Guest Chaplain

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, my colleagues and I are here today to honor the life of our former colleague, Senator Jim Inhofe.

Jim was a longtime legislator, a public servant, and a conservative champion. He was many things to many people. To me, Jim was a dear friend.

Jim and I are both from the heartland, so we shared a similar world view as well as a commitment to similar people--the humble, hard- working Americans from the center of this country.

Jim was fierce in his convictions. Jim was serious in his work. He was also kind-spirited, with a deep compassion for others. But perhaps more than all of these things, Jim was a visionary who used his positions in public life to build a better future for his State and for this country. He recognized the profound importance of public infrastructure investment. From highways, to airports, to levees and much more, Jim's legacy can be felt all across America's heartland.

Jim and I worked together on the Senate's Armed Services Committee. A veteran himself and an avid pilot, Jim was a fighter for the members of our military. All of our Senate colleagues knew that if Jim was leading an international trip to visit with servicemembers across the globe or to meet with America's allies that that trip would be all business. We would sleep on the plane, and we would be in a different country every single day.

I remember that, on one trip, we were forced to slow down a little bit when we lost a plane engine. You heard that right. We lost a plane engine, so we needed to stay in a country an extra day while the repairs were going to be made. That didn't mean we had a vacation. What Jim did is he found ways that he could be relentlessly efficient with all of our time, and his energy and his motivation to do the people's work was infectious.

Near the end of his Senate career, Jim served as the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee. He was one of the first Members of the Senate to recognize how seriously the world had shifted since the Cold War and how desperately we needed to rebuild our military in response to that. He had a very clear view of the global threats that America faces, both present and future, and he led accordingly.

Jim respected the design of the Senate as a place where every State's needs should be considered. He valued cooperation, he valued collaboration, and he wanted our annual Defense bill to reflect the concerns of all of the committee members.

He was resolute in his views and fierce in their defense, but he was always kind and caring. He built strong friendships with all of his colleagues, and despite many disagreements, he would have these relationships, so much so that a close Democrat colleague once described him as a brother to her.

Of course, you cannot speak of Jim without speaking of his family. Anyone who knew him knew how much he loved his wife Kay. He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. The only thing that convinced him to leave decades of public service to the people of Oklahoma was his desire to care for his wife.

My heart goes out to Kay and to his three surviving children, Molly, Jimmy, and Katy. May God comfort them in their sorrow, and may Jim's long life of love and service be a balm to their grief.

America knew Jim. America will remember him as a principled man, deeply committed to his values. The people of Oklahoma knew exactly who he was, and that is why they reelected him to the U.S. Senate five times.

His legacy will live on as a friend, as a husband and father, as a veteran, as an Oklahoman, as a U.S. Senator, and as a very good man.

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