WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, yesterday took to the Senate floor with Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to honor U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, R-Ala., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Wicker and Collins, the next highest ranking members on each committee, thanked their outgoing colleagues for their contributions to national defense.

Wicker emphasized Inhofe’s efforts on the Armed Services Committee.

“As a personal friend of Ronald Reagan, he never wavered in advocating for peace through strength,” Wicker said of Inhofe. “Oklahoma's five military bases are unquestionably better off today because of their staunch advocate, Senator Jim Inhofe. Thanks to his leadership, veterans have better facilities, our Air Force is better equipped, and the military now has AFRICOM as a distinct mission on the African continent.”

Wicker also thanked Shelby by noting his many contributions to securing infrastructure, defense, and development-related projects for the Southeast region.  

“Richard Shelby is the quintessential problem solver,” Wicker said. “He's always known how to sit down, negotiate, and get a result. And I wish him the best in this final month of his career, and once again, getting a result. Indeed, the jobs created through Richard Shelby's legislation and committee work number in the hundreds of thousands, the hundreds of thousands of jobs, so it's no surprise that there are now monuments to Richard Shelby's leadership all over Alabama and the entire nation.”

Watch the full speech as delivered here or read it below. Read more about Wicker’s work on the Senate Armed Service Committee here.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Collins, Senator Inhofe, and I be allowed to give our remarks before the next vote.

[Without objection]

Thank you. Madam President, as we see, this is that difficult time of the year when we pause and say goodbye, farewell, and Godspeed to departing members of this body.

Senator Collins and I are prepared to act as a team at this moment to wish the very best and pay tribute to two individuals: Richard Shelby of Alabama and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.

Senator Shelby is a gifted legislator and Southern gentleman whose impact on this nation will not soon be forgotten. His colleagues and constituents know him for his long record of championing economic development as a champion in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate for our military as leader of the Appropriations Committee here in the Senate.

Richard Shelby is the quintessential problem solver. He's always known how to sit down, negotiate, and get a result. And I wish him the best in this final month of his career, and once again, getting a result. Indeed, the jobs created through Richard Shelby's legislation and committee work number in the hundreds of thousands, the hundreds of thousands of jobs, so it's no surprise that there are now monuments to Richard Shelby's leadership all over Alabama and the entire nation.

As his next-door neighbors across the state line, we Mississippians have directly benefited from his leadership. So, I wish him and his wife, Annette, well as they begin the next chapter.

And I now turn to my friend, the senior senator from Oklahoma, Jim Inhofe, a man that I've had the privilege of working with on the Armed Services Committee these last 14 years. Senator Inhofe represented Oklahoma for 28 years in this body and six years before that in the House of Representatives. In all of those years, he could always be counted on to attend every single Wednesday morning prayer breakfast and Thursday Bible Study. One time he had to attend by telephone because he was called away by a family crisis. But we could always count on him.

And he's been a close friend, he's been a close friend on both sides of the aisle, to people like Barbara Boxer of California, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Democratic Leader Harry Reid. Perhaps it was those friendships that explain his mountain of legislative success, with bipartisan achievements that include three highway bills, four Water Resources and Development Acts, seven National Defense Authorization Acts, including the current bill pending before this body, a bill which literally bears his name.

But that success also came from his breadth of life experience. He understood how to create jobs because he himself had done that as a businessman for 30 years, working in aviation, real estate, and insurance. He understood the challenges of local government because he had been the mayor of Tulsa and a state legislator. As a leader on the Armed Services Committee, he could speak for our men and women in uniform because he had been one of them, having served in the Army.

As a personal friend of Ronald Reagan, he never wavered in advocating for peace through strength. Oklahoma's five military bases are unquestionably better off today because of their staunch advocate, Senator Jim Inhofe. Thanks to his leadership, veterans have better facilities, our Air Force is better equipped, and the military now has AFRICOM as a distinct mission on the African continent.

It bears saying that Senator Inhofe has a long-standing affection for Africa and the people of Africa. There's no one in Congress, or in the State Department, for that matter, who can surpass his personal knowledge of African leaders. On a typical congressional delegation trip, he would hit an average of 12 countries in ten days, covering 18,000 miles and meeting with civilian and military leaders at every stop, always looking for an opportunity to pray with them, always visiting American troops. He's been to Africa more times than any member of Congress since America's founding. 172 [country] visits on the African continent.

When he isn't making law or traveling the globe or watching his grandsons’ athletic events, there's a good chance he's in the air somewhere flying a Cessna, because Senator Inhofe is also Pilot Inhofe, with nearly 12,000 hours of flight time, including a solo flight around the world.

He will also be remembered for that 1991 trip in which he flew the flight path of Wiley Post, which went straight through Russian Airspace. His Russian escort pilot even remarked on his outstanding piloting skills.

As Jim Inhofe departs this chamber, he leaves behind a wealth of friends and an army of former staff whose talent and loyalty are a testament to the man himself. I know he will look forward to spending more time with his wife of 63 years, Kay, and his 20 grandchildren.

Both of these gentlemen, both of these friends, Jim Inhofe and Richard Shelby, will go down as titans of the Senate.

Their enormous contributions to the good of our nation will not soon be forgotten. And we will miss their company.

I wish them both farewell and Godspeed.

And now I yield to my friend, the senator from Maine, Senator Collins, for her remarks about these two outstanding friends.