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Return of Senator Tim Johnson

Date: Sept. 5, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Legislative Branch


RETURN OF SENATOR TIM JOHNSON -- (Senate - September 05, 2007)

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on behalf of the entire U.S. Senate Republican Conference, let me say as well, we welcome back to the Senate our good friend, the senior Senator from South Dakota. The entire Senate family was thrown into a state of shock and worry when Tim Johnson was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery last December. The person who seemed most calm was the woman we just recognized up in the gallery: his wife Barbara. She struck an early note of hope. She said she and the rest of the Johnson family were ``encouraged and optimistic.'' Those aren't the words most of us would choose in a moment such as that, but the Johnsons had been there before, and they seemed to know Tim would be back, back here, before all was said and done; they would make sure of it.

Tim credits Barbara with helping him overcome prostate cancer in 2004, and it was his support that helped her through a couple of serious illnesses of her own. They always overcame the obstacles, working as a team, determined to push through. They are real fighters. For many, this seemed as if it would be the fight of their lives.

But just 2 months after surgery, Barbara and the Johnson children, Brooks, Brenda, and Kelsey, were telling people, ``We've got our Tim back.''

Tim was completely focused on recovery. He went through weeks and weeks of intense rehab. And soon enough, he started to get back to the clips and do the office work from his hospital bed.

When they released him from rehab, this gritty great-grandson of a South Dakota homesteader made a bold decision--actually a prediction--saying he was absolutely ``determined to get back in the saddle.''

Thanks to the committed care of doctors and therapists, the prayers of constituents and colleagues, and, above all, the loving care of Barbara and their children, Tim's Senate colleagues can also say, with a real sense of joy, that they too ``have their Tim back.''

I yield the floor.


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