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Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, we have heard a lot of great comments. First, we heard great words from Senator Burr. I hope that people yield and learn from the lessons.

We have also learned a lot about his body of work over the 28 years that he has been in the House and the Senate.

He mentioned Speaker Boehner earlier, who was probably crying as he listened to Richard's comments. I have a tendency, when I see a friend leaving, to get a little sappy too. So to make sure that we keep Speaker Boehner on the leaderboard for the one who cries the most, I want to talk a little bit about our relationship.

We knew each other before I came here. I was speaker of the house when I first met him. But I learned a lot from him over the last 8 years, and I have seen him work in a way that is unique among many Members.

I feel like you sum up Richard Burr by his patience, his practicality, and his persistence.

He is a very patient person. He doesn't think in terms of, we have got to get this done this Congress. He looks at the reality of the situation, and he just continues to build support until he gets it done.

He is practical. He looks at something, the face of the policy, and he decides whether it makes sense. And he is willing to take the political hits to get good policy done--policy, to use Richard's words, that has purpose and meaning.

And, man, is he persistent. We have had a lot of people talk about the Land and Water Conservation Fund. I watched him work this, and he worked it for quite some time. And when it was finally set up to get passed, he was making a few people and his own conference a little bit uncomfortable because of his encyclopedic knowledge of procedure.

I can remember one scene when he was walking down this aisle, when we were working to get agreement, that it reminded of me of a scene in a western comedy from many years ago.

People down there were saying: Don't shoot him; it will just make him mad.

He knows how to get things done. I have learned a lot from him, and I am going to miss him. But with all due respect to John Boehner, I am going to have your friendship for the rest of my life.

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