Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning in appreciation. Next week, I am leaving the Congress to pursue the chance to build a career in the private sector. I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to offer appreciation and thanksgiving for a…
Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning in appreciation.
Next week, I am leaving the Congress to pursue the chance to build a career in the private sector. I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to offer appreciation and thanksgiving for a lot of people who have helped make this wonderful experience possible.
I start with, as in all things in my life, my wife, Camille, and my daughters, Jacquelyn and Josie, without whom nothing good would be possible and through whom all good things are.
I look forward to many, many more happy years, God willing, with them and thank them for their support and sacrifice.
I thank my staff. Over all of these years, these men and women are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated, sometimes by their employer. These are true public servants. They are inspirations, and I assure you that I have learned much more from them than I have taught to them.
I want to single out, in particular, in the present staff, our chief of staff, Fran Tagmire; our general counsel, Amanda Caruso; and our legislative director, J.Z. Golden, for their excellence, and for many, many others over many, many years.
I want to thank my colleagues. I thank Speaker Boehner for his friendship and leadership.
I especially thank the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives--in my view the best Speaker of the House of Representatives--Nancy Pelosi, who has taught me strength and principle and doggedness and focus, and whose inspiration will guide me, my daughters, and others' sons and daughters for many years to come. I thank her profoundly for her influence and service.
I thank all of my colleagues. I want to come back to that in a minute.
I most especially thank the people of the First Congressional District of the State of New Jersey, who have been the best employer one could possibly have for these last 24 years. And, yes, I would include the people who stop us in the supermarket and complain about a vote that we have cast or wonder why we haven't solved a problem. There are a few of them.
There are many, many more whose words of encouragement have lifted us up for all these years, and I assure you that we appreciate you, and we are staying in our community and looking forward to new ways that we can serve our friends and our neighbors.
I especially, though, do want to come back to the men and women with whom I have had the privilege of serving for all these years. We have done a lot of things that are good together. Some of us have not always agreed on what is good together, but we passed the Affordable Care Act, which I believe will withstand the test of time and will stand together with Medicare and Social Security as pillars of middle class prosperity and American opportunity.
We have opened the door for college students with the direct student loan program that has helped many, many millions of students get an education.
We have improved our environment. In our district at home, there are construction workers building transportation projects today because of our work. There are police and firefighters and teachers on the job because of our cooperation.
There are two veterans health clinics. We can simply not say thank you with our words to our veterans, but by our deeds. And I must say this morning that I especially remember young men and women on duty around the world serving our country, and I express my deepest appreciation to them.
But to my colleagues, I would say this, that I have had 150,000 constituents over the years come to our office with various issues and problems, and they are certainly an inspiration. But so, too, ladies and gentlemen, are you, my colleagues.
The House is a rambunctious and energetic place. I suspect we will see some of that rambunctiousness even later today. We have seen a little bit this morning. People should not confuse debate with division. Healthy, passionate debate is the elixir of American democracy. It is the fuel that makes the country better. And for those who look at the House and say, well, all they ever do is argue with each other, I would certainly hope so. I would certainly hope we would bring to this Chamber deeply held beliefs, deeply held convictions, and express them in the course of debate.
Of course, there is time for compromise, and there is always a season to get the job done; but may this place never lose the strong convictions of people, right and left, Republican and Democrat, north, south, east, and west, because that is what makes democracy go.
I would also say this, that we, in this Chamber, should never confuse a difference of opinion with a difference of intention. I have served here for nearly 24 years, and I can safely say I have never met a fellow Member who does not love this country, who was not here for the purpose of improving this country as he or she sees that improvement. I have certainly disagreed with the definition of ``improvement,'' but I have never questioned the motivation or motive of any of the men and women with whom I have had the privilege of serving.
So my admonition would be: Keep the energy flowing. Those who misunderstand debate, let them misunderstand it. Keep the passionate beliefs that occupy this place going. And when we do, I believe with great confidence that the institution will continue to lead the way to a country that is more prosperous, more safe, more free, and more generous than any nation in the history of the face of the Earth.
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve. I thank each of you who has given me this privilege.
