{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E92CA048-8D1B-49B5-AC0F-E347ED5E264B", "Thune Honors Retiring Senators Blunt and Inhofe", "2022-12-06", "2022", "2022-12", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today honored retiring U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) on the Senate floor.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019ll be losing several members to retirement at the end of this year, including my friend Roy Blunt.\n\n\u201cRoy and I have served together for the majority of my time in the Senate.\n\n\u201cAnd I also served with him for several years in the House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cWe started in the House at the same time, and we became friends right away.\n\n\u201cOur wives have become friends as well, and it has been a joy over the years to host Roy and Abby in South Dakota, along with their son Charlie, and to visit them in Missouri.\n\n\u201cOn a personal level, I\u2019m going to miss Roy a lot.\n\n\u201cAnd the Senate as an institution is going to miss Roy as well.\n\n\u201cRoy is someone who aspires to be involved in doing the hard things, and throughout his congressional career, he\u2019s put himself forward for positions where he can make a difference.\n\n\u201cHe became chief deputy whip just two years after becoming a member of the House, and he was elected majority whip just four years later \u2013 winning the position earlier in his career than any member of Congress in eight decades.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a similar story in the Senate, where Roy was elected vice chairman of the Republican Conference in his first year.\n\n\u201cIn 2019, he became chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, which plays an important role in providing members and staff with the resources they need on the issues.\n\n\u201cAnd he\u2019s done that while also serving as the top Republican on the Senate Rules Committee.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Roy has always been committed to doing the big things.\n\n\u201cBut he\u2019s also very solutions-oriented, and very clear-eyed and practical about what\u2019s achievable in a place where it\u2019s hard to get things done.\n\n\u201cHe has a saying \u2013 \u201cNever announce publicly what you won\u2019t vote for.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what he means by that is that you shouldn\u2019t back yourself into a position where you can\u2019t support a good compromise \u2013 that while it\u2019s not always possible to get everything you want, you shouldn\u2019t let that stop you from doing as much good as you can.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Roy has done a lot of good work during his time in Congress.\n\n\u201cAnd one of his lasting legacies will be his bipartisan achievements in the health care space, including his efforts to help create and expand the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics program to improve access to mental health care and championing medical research.\n\n\u201cThe facility housing the NIH\u2019s Center for Alzheimer\u2019s and Related Dementias is actually named after Roy in honor of his longtime work to support dementia research.\n\n\u201cAnd of course no mention of Roy\u2019s legacy would be complete without mentioning his stalwart advocacy for the people of Missouri.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I will miss Roy.\n\n\u201cAnd the Senate will miss Roy.\n\n\u201cBut I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve together, and I am happy that he will have more time to spend with Abby and with his children and grandchildren.\n\n\u201cRoy has made a lasting impact here in Washington.\n\n\u201cAnd I look forward to seeing his next chapter.\n\n\u201cMr. President, shortly before Thanksgiving, one of the great icons of the Senate, Senator Jim Inhofe, gave his farewell speech.\n\n\u201cAnd I wanted to take the time today to honor his service.\n\n\u201cAs I said, Jim is one of the icons of the Senate, and it is difficult to imagine things here without him.\n\n\u201cOver his 28-year career, he has built an incredible legacy, particularly when it comes to building up our military and developing our relationships in Africa.\n\n\u201cOne of the first trips I took when I got to the Senate was a trip with Jim to Iraq and Germany to meet with some of our troops and talk to military leadership.\n\n\u201cI like to think I\u2019m a pretty energetic guy, but I was left in awe by Jim Inhofe.\n\n\u201cHe was like the Energizer bunny.\n\n\u201cHe left people half his age in the dust.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know anybody who works harder than Jim.\n\n\u201cHe leads by example.\n\n\u201cAnd his legislative achievements are a tribute to his tireless service.\n\n\u201cMr. President, everyone knows that Jim Inhofe is an accomplished legislator.\n\n\u201cBut not everyone knows that Jim is also an accomplished pilot.\n\n\u201cHe has over 11,000 flight hours \u2013 I mentioned he\u2019s like the Energizer bunny \u2013 and he has flown an airplane around the world.\n\n\u201cI was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be his passenger once as we flew around Oklahoma, and it remains one of the best flights I have ever taken.\n\n\u201cMr. President, while I deeply admire Jim\u2019s work ethic and his legislative achievements \u2013 and his piloting prowess \u2013 the thing I appreciate the most about Jim is that he is a man of deep and profound faith.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed to gather with him and other senators for Bible study for a number of years now, and I don\u2019t think he\u2019s ever missed a session.\n\n\u201cWhen I think about Jim, I think about the verse in 1 Peter that says, \u201csanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.\u201d\n\n\u201cJim Inhofe is always ready to give that defense.\n\n\u201cJim isn\u2019t a man who pays lip service to his faith.\n\n\u201cHe models it and lives it.\n\n\u201cIn word and deed, he is a great ambassador for his Savior.\n\n\u201cAnd I will miss his presence and his witness.\n\n\u201cMr. President, while I will miss Jim being in the Senate, I am glad that he and his beloved wife Kay will now have more time to spend together and with their children and grandchildren.\n\n\u201cAnd I wish him the very best of retirements.\n\n\u201cHe has more than earned some time off.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E92CA048-8D1B-49B5-AC0F-E347ED5E264B"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.775056192651391, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}