Mr. President, life has a great way of handing us moments that are bittersweet. I am sad today to rise for the final time to represent the State of North Carolina as their Senator, but I am also filled with a great deal of joy because I…
Mr. President, life has a great way of handing us moments that are bittersweet. I am sad today to rise for the final time to represent the State of North Carolina as their Senator, but I am also filled with a great deal of joy because I will be heading home to the place and the people and the family I love so much. I also want to thank everyone who is listening and all Members of the Senate and the staff who have been so extraordinary about my wife Elizabeth for their prayers and their support.
Elizabeth and I and our family draw so much strength from all of you. We are comforted by your words and your prayers.
We are grateful to the more than 50,000 people who have sent e-mails and letters to Elizabeth. As Elizabeth's brother said when he was asked about it, he would not want to be cancer inside of Elizabeth's body, and I agree with that.
She is the love of my life and a woman of great strength. I am sure she will be successful in this fight. Both of us hope and pray that by talking about it in the way that Elizabeth has, and with the grace and courage that she has shown, it will help other women who are faced with the same kind of struggle so they can avoid the same kind of struggle.
Sometimes when hardship comes, one feels alone, but thanks to all of you and our family in the Senate, we know that we are not alone. We are blessed to have the love, affection, and support of our friends and our family, our great staff in Washington, DC, in the Senate office and back in North Carolina and our Senate offices there, and also the staff in the Senate.
Those who serve on the floor of the Senate who have been wonderful friends and so much help and support for all of us, we thank all of them. To Marty and to Lula, whom Elizabeth and I adore, who have been wonderful friends to us and have advised us and shown us our way around here, we appreciate both of them. To the people in the cloakroom who have helped us and taken care of us for the last 6 years, and to the men and women--and I hope they will hear my voice--who take us up and down the elevators, whom we see as we go in and out of these office buildings and the Capitol, who serve all of us and who are wonderful, extraordinary people, I have to say, since I have come back from the campaign trail, to a person they have spoken their support and affection for Elizabeth and for our family and what we are going through. I just want them all to know how much they mean not only to us but to all of us who serve in the Senate.
And, of course, to all the men and women I have had the privilege to serve with here in the Senate. To those who think the men and women who serve in this institution do not work hard, I wish they could spend one day here and see how hard it is and how devoted everyone who serves in the Senate is, and how much they want to do good things for the country--whatever our disagreements are. We have many and they are strong. The truth is, everyone here serves because they love their country and they want to do good things for their country.
All of you, you keep us strong. You keep us going. You remind us, in good times and in bad, when we work together, everything is still possible here in America. It is the North Carolina way. That is the way I like to look at it. I have never loved my home State or my country more than I do today. We have had some triumphs, we have had some tragedies over the last 6 years. But one thing is clear: I will never stop representing the people of North Carolina, the values they represent and the values that I grew up with there and the values I believe in. The truth is, it is who I am.
It is what I learned in Robbins, NC growing up, watching my father and the men and women who worked alongside him in the mill for all those years. It is what I learned from going to church, from going to our schools, and from going to all 100 counties in North Carolina, which I am proud to have done, and listening to the people of North Carolina. It is what I learned when I shook the hands of the people who came on Tarheel Thursday, which we had on Thursday when we were here in the Senate. I will never forget you.
I will never forget the first struggle we had in the wake of Hurricane Floyd, hard-working people like Bobby Carraway. He owned a restaurant in Kinston near the Neuse River. It sat under 3 feet of water for days. He lost everything. He and so many like him didn't want a Government handout, they wanted a hand up and a chance to do what they were capable of doing and a chance to go back to work, which is all he and his family had ever known their entire lives. What we did then for so many, and this year, too, in the western part of our State, which has been hit by hurricanes and flooding, is we worked together, we picked ourselves up, we dusted away the disappointment, and we got back to work to make North Carolina stronger.
I will also never forget the men and women who worked at Pillowtex. They did everything right. They took care of their families. They went to work every day, some of them for days and years, some of them for decades. They still couldn't stop their jobs from moving overseas.
I met one woman whose question I hear over and over--I heard it over and over again as I traveled around the country. She looked at me and said: What am I supposed to do now? Have I not done what is right in America? I worked hard, I raised my family, I was responsible. Now my job is gone and what am I supposed to do?
Together we fought to help her pay for health care and get training for a new job but, most importantly, we fought to keep North Carolina jobs in North Carolina where we need them so badly. We stood up against tax breaks that shipped our jobs overseas. We fought for fair trade that gave our workers and businesses a chance to compete, and represented the values we believe in.
I will also never forget Dr. Clay Ballantine. He works at Mission St. Joseph's Hospital in Asheville, NC. Every day he sees kids and adults and seniors who come in with respiratory problems, problems with asthma. He told his story as we fought the battle to protect the quality of our air for our children and for our seniors.
I will never forget the farmers and the men and women who live in our small towns, our rural areas where I grew up. That is who I am. The truth is, you are the heart and soul of North Carolina. When our farmers were struggling, especially our tobacco farmers, I am proud in the end we were able to do something, to do something to help them, because they deserve it. They have done so much for their towns and their communities and for my State. They deserve something, finally, to be done to help them and support them. All of us together were able to do that.
It also matters, it matters to good, hard-working people like Blythe and Gwendolyn Casey. They have had a family farm for decades. They did their part and they never dreamed they would be close to retiring, mired in debt, debt they can never recover from. Together we helped them and we maintained family farms across our State of North Carolina.
I will never forget the mothers and the fathers, the husbands and the wives, the brothers and the sisters who wanted nothing but to make sure their loved one got the care they needed in their darkest hour. Together with Senator John McCain and Senator Kennedy, my friends and my colleagues, two men for whom I have enormous respect and affection, we went to work on something that matters--making sure you and your doctors could make your own health care decisions, especially when they were important to you and your family. It wasn't easy. There were lobbyists all over this place from every drug company, HMO, and big insurance company. They prowled these halls, but we did it and we got the Patients' Bill of Rights passed in the Senate. I have absolute faith that
the Senate will do it again and the President will sign the Patients' Bill of Rights into law for all Americans.
I will also never forget the brave soldiers I met in Afghanistan on a dark night. They are so proud--they were so proud and still are--of serving their country, going after terrorists and Osama bin Laden. I will never forget the thousands of men and women from Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point, Seymour Johnson, and Pope Air Force bases, who were serving this country abroad and who were serving the country at home, and whose families were there to support them. I represented them and represented their families and it was an extraordinary honor for me to be able to represent them.
It is simple for me. If you take care of us, if you serve our country to protect the freedoms and ideals we cherish, we should be there for you. Your country should be there for you. That means health care and housing, it means relief on your student loans, and help covering your child care cost when your spouse has to go to work.
The men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America, they are who we think of and pray for when we look at our flag. The Stars and Stripes wave for them. The word ``hero'' was made for them. They are the best and the bravest, and we will always stand with you when you are standing in harm's way. This is what we have fought for together. It is something of which we should all be proud.
We built on North Carolina's model to improve our schools, to strengthen standards, to expand afterschool, and to pay teachers more. We fought to strengthen security at our ports and our borders, chemical and nuclear plants, and to give our police and firefighters the support they needed to keep this country safe. We fought to make Washington live within its budget, to make sure Washington did what most families in America do every single day, to live within their means, and to restore fiscal responsibility. And we fought to reward work--not just wealth, work--and to ensure that the American dream stays alive and available to every single American, no matter where they live or who their family is or what the color of their skin. This is the America we believe in. This is the America we fought for.
All my life I have fought for those who do not have a voice. I did it before I came to the Senate. I have done it here in the Senate. I will do it for the rest of my life. It is what my life has been about: Fighting for people who need someone to fight for them.
I thank Senator Byrd for all of his guidance and for showing me the ropes during the time I have been here in the Senate.
I want to take a moment and say a word about Senator Reid, who has also been a great leader here in the Senate and who I want to wish Godspeed in the important work in front of him.
Again, my thanks to my leader, to our leader, Senator Daschle, for the work he has done and the leadership he has shown and the grace and strength and courage he has shown in leading in very difficult times, as others have said. He is a good and decent man and we all look up to him and respect him.
I thank Senator McCain and Senator Kennedy for including me in working on the Patients' Bill of Rights, two great leaders in this Senate, two great leaders for the country, two Americans that Americans do and should look up to and respect.
I thank my friend, my seatmate, Senator Evan Bayh, for all the times we have spent together, working here on the floor of the Senate, running together. He and his wife and his family are great friends of ours. His friendship means the world to me.
I also thank my fellow Senate retirees Senator Breaux and Senator Hollings. One thing I guarantee you: Our accents will be missed here on the floor of the Senate. Hopefully, there will be others who will be able to speak the way we speak.
I also want to say a word about my friend Senator Kerry. I embarked a few months ago on a journey with Senator Kerry, a fight, as we traveled across the country and fought for the things in which we believe. We shared our hopes for this country together. We worked hard to make America stronger. I developed a very strong, close, personal friendship with John Kerry during that time. John Kerry is a good man and he is a good American. I got the chance to see him when others didn't, when there were no cameras around, when there were no crowds. This is a man of strength and conviction and courage. He loves his children. He has a beautiful family, by the way. He and his wife Teresa and their kids became very close with my family and our children.
We feel an enormous affection for them and enormous connection with them because we were engaged in what we thought was a very important cause. It still is a very important cause.
But the reality is that John Kerry is somebody who has loved this country his entire life. He stood up and fought for this country his entire life. I am proud to have been able to spend the last few months fighting alongside him as he traveled throughout the country and the work that he did not just in this campaign but for all the years he served in this Senate before this campaign, and the years he will serve from here on are important. Every day he walks onto the floor of this Senate, the American people will be better for it.
He is my friend. He is my colleague. I trust him.
I believe, of course, that he would have made a great President, and I believe he has great work to do for this country in the days and years to come. It is an honor for me to be able to serve with him in this term.
I also want to thank my staff. I ask unanimous consent to have their names printed in the Record.
Mr. President, we couldn't do the work we do here without the support and help of all those who work so hard with us every single day. You show up every day. You show up every day, in my case as I saw it, with a simple question: What can I do to make my country better? And you did. Those of you who worked with me, I know that you did; I saw it. I saw the hard work you did, and you will continue to do it because you believe public service is an important and noble calling. I thank you personally. I thank you on behalf of the people of North Carolina and the people of this country. I have seen the hard work you have done, and it is important.
This fight goes on.
I will be home in a place I love, North Carolina, the place that made me love America to begin with. I am going to have God's gift--more time to hear the screen door slam when my young kids run through the house after school. I still have a couple of young kids, Emma Claire, who is 6, and Jack, who is 4. I will be able to spend more time with my older daughter Kate, who graduated from college and was out on the campaign trail. I am very proud of her. I will have more time to spend with my own parents and my family and more time to be there for the woman I love and have loved for a long time now, my wife Elizabeth.
It is bittersweet knowing what we have accomplished. And it is also bittersweet knowing what is left to be done. There is so much work left to be done in this country.
And in the end, I always think of North Carolina's own Thomas Wolfe. He said:
I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe
we shall be found. And this belief, which mounts now to the
catharis of knowledge and conviction, is for me--and I think
for all of us--not only our own hope but, America's
everlasting, living dream.
Our job is making sure that no one--no one--is lost in America; that that
dream is everlasting. And together we will continue to make it stronger and more alive for all who grace our lives.
