[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 8, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H7031-H7036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
A FAREWELL TO CONGRESS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Brooks) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Byrne), my colleague and wonderful, dear friend.
Farewell to the House of Representatives
Mr. BYRNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. My
grandparents were from Indiana, and the gentlewoman from Indiana
represents her State well, and I have appreciated our relationship.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my farewell speech to this House,
and I am going to surprise some people by saying that I rise today with
hope and optimism. I know that is unusual because there are people on
both sides of the House that want to say this country is in a bad place
and heading in the wrong direction.
I believe that view ignores two very important things. One is our
history, and the other is what I hear the people of America telling us.
Several years ago, a number of us from the Senate and the House, both
parties, had the privilege of spending an evening at the Library of
Congress with the noted American history writer David McCullough. At
the end of the evening, the moderator turned to him and said: What
parting words do you have for these Members of Congress?
And he said: I think if the people of America knew their history
better, they would be more hopeful, they would be more optimistic.
I have been listening to the people of my district for the last 7
years. When I was listening to them, I had no preconceived notions
about what they thought, and, buddy, they told me. And the American
people, through elections, have told us, too. And the great thing about
our elections is there are no filters.
If you go back and look at the history of this country, you will see
some notable things. One is that this country was founded by people who
believed in principles, in morals, and values that defined who we are.
They took a tremendous risk in fighting the most powerful military
nation in the world, Great Britain, and they did it after declaring
something very important, not just that they were declaring
independence, but the reasons for why they were doing it.
That Congress was the Second Continental Congress. The First
Continental Congress, which met in 1774, is the forerunner to this
House, a group of people elected to represent the people of this
country. It is a notion as old as the creation of Parliament and the
House of Commons of England, something that was their heritage.
Now, they took a great risk because they felt they faced a great
risk. They had been told when those colonies were founded that they
would have the same rights as all English people, and they found after
the French and Indian war that that wasn't true, that those rights were
going to be taken from them, and they were willing to fight for those
rights.
Now, Mr. Speaker, let me say this very clearly. They didn't come into
this with clean hands. When the Europeans came to this continent, this
was not a new world. This was an old world. There was a civilization
already here that had been here for thousands of years. And between our
germs, which they had no defense against, and other things worse than
that, we essentially took this land from them.
In 1619, European slave traders brought the first slave to this
country. So when they went into that fight with the British, they
didn't have clean hands. But societies are complex things, and because
they didn't have clean hands didn't mean they didn't have clean hearts.
And they did.
They waged an incredible war for 5 years against this great military
power and won. And they won because of what they stood on. Go back and
look at the Declaration of Independence. One sentence in there really
says it all: ``We hold these truths. . . . `'
Truths, absolutes, not something you get to change your mind about.
``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal. . . . `'
Yes, I know they used the word ``men,'' but the principle of equality
was in there. It was in what they were standing on. And they said we
were created equal, which means we had a Creator. And they go on in the
very next phrase and they say: ``We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator. . . . `'
They were gifted. Endowed means gifted. They were gifted by their
Creator, by God himself with certain unalienable rights, rights that
can't be taken away from them. And that
[[Page H7032]]
among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And
that governments are instituted among men to secure those very
liberties, `` . . . deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed.''
We need to reread that sentence over and over again. Government
doesn't exist for the politicians. Government exists to secure rights,
and the power we have is the power the people give us.
Now, I know very well that we had to follow up that desperate war and
that declaration by creating a Constitution, the Constitution we are
under today. Sadly, it is a Constitution I fear too many people,
including too many people in power, don't know much about. Because the
purpose of the Constitution was not only to create a government that
had enough power to do what needed to be done for the things that are
listed in the preamble of the Constitution, it also put limits on that
government. And some of us act as if there are no limits on this
government.
And our Founders knew because they had to fight against a tyrannical
central government that there needed to be limits on government. Those
same English rights that they had inherited had been secured because
people, for hundreds of years, had to fight back against British kings
that wanted to take power and use it against the people.
{time} 2015
People lost their lives. There was great suffering, as there was in
our Revolution, because tyrannical central governments don't give their
power back easily, they don't give them back without a fight. That
fight continued in the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights, which was adopted by this House in the very first
Congress under the leadership of James Madison, as he said in his
speech to the House when he introduced the Bill of Rights, he said,
this is all about making sure that we take away from this powerful
government we have created any notion that they can trample on certain
specific rights, and they laid them out. And in a couple years, all the
States necessary ratified those amendments, and they are part of the
fundamental law of this country, although sometimes we act like they
are not.
I have listened, by the way, to some of the debates about what rights
we have under the Free Exercise Clause. The Free Exercise Clause is in
the First Amendment to the Constitution, and it says, Congress can't
make any law that establishes a religion or infringes upon the free
exercise of that religion; exercise, action. We have a right to freely
exercise our religion, and we need to remember that fundamental right
along with the others.
Now, that was our founding: the Declaration of Independence, the War
for Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. That was our
founding, not 1619. And we need to remember the principles of our
founding, because they are central to who we are as people.
Now, over the course of the 19th century, we were invaded by Great
Britain, the Capitol Building here was burned, the White House was
burned. We could have given up, but we didn't, because that is not who
we are.
We not only survived, we fought on and built this great country so
that by 1860, we not only bordered on the Atlantic Ocean, we bordered
on the Pacific Ocean and we bordered on the Rio Grande. We grew by
leaps and bounds.
Then in 1861, we entered another tragedy, because the people that put
that Constitution together failed in at least one critical regard: they
failed to address the issue of slavery, and we fought a terrible Civil
War that cost the lives of 600,000 Americans to solve a problem that
should have been solved in 1787.
Despite that war, we came back, we ended slavery, we adopted the
Fourteenth Amendment and the Fifteenth Amendment, and we grew as a
Nation throughout the rest of the 19th century.
Finally, in the early 20th century, we did the right thing and gave
women the right to vote. Neither of my grandmothers, as young adult
women with families, could vote. It is amazing that that was true just
that long ago, but it was. But we corrected it, as we always do.
In World War II, this country fought an incredibly difficult world
war on three different continents and beat the most powerful nations in
the world, and at the end of that war, stood as the only real power
left on the Earth.
And we had a choice. We could have walked away, come right back to
our shores and said, we are going back to being the insular country we
have been. We could have also said, we have got more power than
everybody else; we are going to use it against everybody else to make
ourselves wealthy.
We did neither.
We stood up and led the world, and created a rules-based order that
has benefited people all over the world, that has lifted billions of
people out of poverty, that has increased the lifespan of billions of
people, that spread democracy and freedom around the globe, because
that is who we are.
While we were doing that, we were also facing our problems here at
home. Yes, we have problems here at home. We didn't finish the work of
the Civil War. We had to go through a difficult civil rights movement,
and in this House, we adopted the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and in this
House, we adopted the 1965 Voting Rights Act. We did that.
We provided things for the education of the children of this country
they didn't have. We provided things for healthcare in this country
that people didn't have. We provided for clean air and clean water.
We addressed our own problems while we were leading the world,
because that is who we are. We do those things.
Now, I understand that there are people that want to give us a
different version of that history. They want to tell us that we are all
evil from birth, that somehow this country is inherently evil.
That just doesn't square with historic facts.
They want to rewrite history.
The first thing any authoritarian government does is rewrite history
or attempt to do it. The authoritarian wannabes in this country are
trying to rewrite our history, and they want to do that to pursue a
radical agenda that doesn't match up with what the American people
want.
They try to call themselves Progressives. That is not progressive.
Wanting a powerful central government is regressive. That is regressing
back to what we rebelled against in 1776.
They are not progressive. They are Socialists. They are at least
honest in saying that. But they are not progressive. It is regressive.
Let me tell you what I hear the American people say in my district
and around this country. They are saying this: We Americans aren't
evil. We are and have been a force for good here and around the world.
We aren't Socialists. We don't want a powerful, overreaching central
government.
We don't want Medicare for all, where the government makes decisions
for us and our doctors, and rations when and how we get our healthcare.
We believe our healthcare system is the best in the world, and we want
to keep it that way, but we also want to assure that everyone in this
country has real access to it.
We don't want a Green New Deal, which jacks up our utility bills,
saps our economic competitiveness, and destroys jobs.
We don't want to defund the police. In fact, we think spending on
public safety is a good thing. We value our law enforcement officers
and we grieve when one is killed, as dozens are every year.
We want our government to defend our shores and interests and protect
us here at home. We rely upon the men and women wearing our uniform to
do that, and we want our government to take care of them.
I have gotten the chance to travel all over the world to see our men
and women in uniform, many of them in harm's way, and I am so proud of
them. And like most Americans, I want to make sure we are doing the
right thing by them.
We want to make sure that there is opportunity in this country for
everyone. Everyone. Don't leave anybody out. We want everybody to be
able to take advantage of all that this Nation has to offer. And to
achieve that goal, we need quality education for everybody in this
country, and not just for the privileged.
It shouldn't be the case that you get one caliber of education
because of
[[Page H7033]]
where you live, one type of education, one quality of education, and a
worse one if you live in some other place. We should give everybody the
freedom to have quality education so that they can take advantage of
those opportunities.
We want justice for everyone. Everyone. Because injustice to anyone
is injustice to us all.
We want our air and water to be clean.
We want to continue to be the economic leader of the world.
Let me stop and say a word about China.
The greatest external threat to this country is China; not the
Chinese people, but the Communist Party that runs China. They seek to
become the only power in the world; not a power, the only power. And
they will do anything--anything. They will stop at nothing to get it.
It is past time for us to wake up and understand the threat that they
are, not just to us, but to the entire world and that rules-based order
we created after World War II.
And, Mr. Speaker, we the American people are tired of being divided,
divided by our region. Since when is it okay for the coasts to look
down on the other parts of the country?
We don't want to be divided by race. People aren't defined by the
color of their skin, they are not defined by their ethnicity, they are
not defined by their national origin. That is anti-American to think
that way. We should come together over that.
We don't want to be divided by our gender.
We don't want to be divided by religion. Whether you have got a
religion or not, we don't want to be divided by it.
We don't want to be divided by generation, the young versus the old.
It has always been that the old handed something valuable to the next
generation. That is what we should be about.
That division in our country is the greatest internal threat we have
got. And I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, it is the greatest threat of
all, because there is nothing that this great Nation can't accomplish
when we are united, when we are e pluribus unum, out of many, one.
That is who America is, that is who the American people want us to
be, and that is the great challenge before this House.
I have had a great experience here in Congress. I have met some
wonderful people. I have had the privilege of serving on the House
Armed Services Committee, the Education and Labor Committee, and the
Rules Committee. I have seen a lot of important things be done here and
be done right.
The best legislation passed in this House is bipartisan legislation.
The worst legislation is almost always partisan legislation. Usually it
doesn't make it across the finish line, by the way.
Our ability to work together should be what we should all be striving
for in this House, and I hope the House to follow will do that.
Mr. Speaker, before I take my leave, I want to say a few things.
I want to thank the many Members of this House who have befriended me
and helped me on both sides of the aisle. I particularly want to thank
my fellow colleagues in the Alabama delegation. They have been a great
family to be a part of.
I want to thank the staff. The staff of this House is amazing, so
very helpful, so very competent, and we just couldn't get our jobs down
without you.
I want to thank the good people of southwest Alabama. They gave me
the great privilege of being here to represent them as their only
representative. What an honor that has been. I hope and pray that I
have fulfilled the trust that they put in me, because they are my
bosses.
I want to thank my many supporters who time and time again helped me,
and sometimes it wasn't so easy to do what they had to do.
I want to thank my office staff here in Washington and the district.
They made me look good every day, and I could not have done what I have
done without them. So to all of my staff, present and former, thank you
for what you have done for me.
And I want to thank my long-suffering family. You know, they have
loved me and they supported me, even when I wasn't so lovable and even
when it wasn't so easy to support me. I could not have done it without
them.
So to my son Patrick, his wife, Carolyn, my grandchildren MacGuire
and Ann Roberts; my daughter Kathleen and her husband, Steve, and son,
Cooper; my daughter Laura, her husband, Lieutenant Commander Stephen
Prugh, now presently at the Pentagon; my son Colin; and most of all, I
want to thank my wife, Rebecca.
You know, these are hard positions and it is really hard to be the
spouse of somebody in these positions, and Rebecca has done a
tremendous job in supporting me in every way you could ask. She is
truly the love of my life for 40 years now, and I want to thank her for
all that she has done for me in all those 40 years, but particularly
these last 7 years.
And now, Mr. Speaker, I say farewell to this House. God bless you
all, and God bless the United States of America.
Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, that was outstanding.
And to my dear friend and colleague, best to you in retirement and in
your next chapter of life. You have an amazing family; you have a
passion for our country. Thank you for reminding us all of the great
history of this country. And what an amazing country we are both proud
to be born in and lucky to be born in. So I wish you well.
Mr. Speaker, fellow Members of Congress, my dedicated staff past and
present, my family and friends, and most importantly to the Hoosiers of
the Fifth District of Indiana: I stand before you today at the end of
an incredibly challenging year, at the close of a tumultuous decade,
and in the final days of my tenure as a Member of this esteemed body.
When I decided to run for Congress in 2011, it was because I wanted
to make a difference in my community and my country. I believed that
despite the dysfunction that did and does dominate the headlines, I
could get things done for my home State of Indiana and my fellow
Hoosiers.
Above all, I wanted to restore confidence in Congress, to reassure
people that our government can and does do enormous good, that their
elected representatives are dedicated public servants who, while still
human, wake up each day committed to ensuring a brighter future for
every American, where the opportunity to thrive is not limited to some,
but afforded to all.
{time} 2030
How do you go about rebuilding trust and faith with some 328 million
people? We still have a long way to go. Congressional approval ratings
continue to hover in the teens and twenties.
But over the course of my 8 years here, I have identified four steps
I believe can and will go a long way to restoring public trust and
faith in Congress.
The first sounds relatively simple. We just need to do the work. As
every Member of this esteemed body knows, in practice, making an idea
into an effective law takes careful planning, hours of learning,
listening to the experts, deep discussions, debates with constituents,
and colleagues across the political spectrum, not to mention actually
writing the legislation and earning the votes to get it signed into law
by the President.
These days, it seems like ideas we can all get behind are few and far
between. Wherever you look, it is hard not to see the deep divisions in
our country, along party lines to be sure, but also along racial,
socioeconomic, gender, geographic, and religious lines as well.
Following a very contentious election, those divisions are on full
display, for better or for worse. It is easy to point out the problems
we face, but it is the difficult, humbling work to set aside our
differences, to roll up our sleeves, and to focus on finding solutions.
My time in Congress has taught me that it is work worth doing.
Some of the most important work that I have been involved in here has
been in response to the number of Americans lost to opioid overdoses
each day that is still alarmingly high and being pushed higher by the
pandemic.
I am especially proud to have been a part of getting a comprehensive
piece of legislation passed to work against every facet of the heroin
opioid crisis.
[[Page H7034]]
From prevention and education, to treatment and recovery, to getting
overdose reversal drugs into the hands of first responders, and
supporting law enforcement in their fight against illicit drugs, I am
even prouder that the legislation that was ultimately signed into law
incorporated hundreds of smart solutions and proposals from individual
Members of Congress from across the country and the political spectrum.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act epitomizes the way our
government can and should work for us. I have worked hard to ensure
that I approach each day ready to collaborate, debate, and work
alongside my colleagues, regardless of party, and to really address the
challenges facing our country.
I believe government's first priority is security, keeping its
citizens safe, the people directly responsible for ensuring our
security, our brave servicemen and -women. It is impossible to
overstate my admiration and gratitude for the difficult work they do,
the sacrifices they and their families make for our safety, and their
willingness to pay the ultimate price for our freedom.
I was lucky enough to be a part of a delegation led by retiring
Members Representatives Martha Roby and Susan Davis to Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Jordan to thank moms for serving away from their families on
Mother's Day. These were among the most meaningful moments of my
congressional career. They reinforced my belief that Congress' top job
is to support our troops and our diplomats, to give them the tools they
need to perform their duty and to never forget the sacrifice they have
made and will continue to make for our country.
While contentious and difficult, my work on the Select Committee on
Benghazi was, at its core, to make sure we do a better job of
protecting our diplomats and Americans serving overseas. They deserve
to know that we are doing everything in our power to keep them safe
while they protect our interests and defend our Nation abroad.
At home, it is our first responders who are on the front lines of
ensuring our safety and upholding the rule of law. Because I worked
closely with our partners in law enforcement, first as a deputy mayor
in Indianapolis and later as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of
Indiana, I wanted to be a voice for law enforcement in Congress. I saw
their dedication and the sacrifices they and their families make.
There were and are areas where we can make both our citizens and our
first responders safer.
Following the Boston Marathon bombing, I worked to help first
responders use social media as an effective tool for disaster response.
Later, my fellow Hoosiers, Senators Young and Donnelly, and a
bipartisan group of my colleagues in the House led efforts to give
first responders critical access to mental health support to manage the
trauma inherent in their day-to-day work.
Today, law enforcement needs our support more than ever, even as we
look for ways to ensure our laws are enforced justly and fairly.
Time and time again during my congressional career, we found areas of
agreement, no matter how small, where positive change can be made for
our fellow citizens. And sometimes we go big. We came together to pass
the 21st Century Cures Act led by Representative Fred Upton and
Representative Diana DeGette from Colorado, which speeds up the
research, development, and deploying of lifesaving medicines,
treatments, and, yes, vaccines.
I joined breast cancer survivor Representative Wasserman Schultz to
ensure young women can access lifesaving mammograms and detect breast
cancer early.
Beyond the big headlines about gridlock and dysfunction, there is
good, meaningful work being done on Capitol Hill, but none of it is
done alone.
To my beloved friends and family, ``thank you'' doesn't begin to
cover it. You have kept me grounded in purpose, honest and strong. Your
unwavering support and love and laughter have made the hard days easier
and the happy days more joyful.
My husband, David, and my children, Jessica and Connor, having you by
my side every step of the way has made all the difference. I love you
very much and couldn't be prouder of all that you have accomplished in
the last 8 years.
To the rest of my family and friends at home and across the country,
thank you for being my champions, my cheerleaders, and, above all, for
walking alongside me even during the difficult parts of this journey.
You were the first volunteers for my campaign and you always have my
back. I look forward to more time spent with all of you in the months
and years to come.
To my dedicated team, past and present, some of whom have been with
me since the beginning of this wild ride, I share every accomplishment
and every accolade with you. It is hard to find people with whom you
can share a passion and a purpose, let alone a few laughs and tears
along the way.
From the day I announced my candidacy to the day we turn off the
lights, there are countless individuals who have contributed to my work
with integrity and grit and who served the Fifth District honorably. We
have become a family.
While working side by side, we have celebrated life's great joys--
weddings, babies, first grandchildren--and cheered one another on
during periods of transition--new jobs, pursuing graduate degrees,
first homes, and cross-country moves. And we have grieved together
during life's inevitable sorrows, mourning friends and family members
taken too soon, including Judy Christofolis, who died this past spring
after a long battle with breast cancer.
Through it all, I have been lucky to have been surrounded by smart
people who are willing to work late nights and early mornings to
crisscross the Fifth District to hear directly from our constituents,
to learn and grow alongside, and craft effective legislation that
really fixes problems for people.
I am proud of all the work we have done together, and I am looking
forward to cheering each of you on during all the exciting twists and
turns that are yet to come in your life's journey.
To my colleagues, most of whom I now call friends, particularly the
Indiana delegation, my brothers and sister Hoosiers, thank you for your
collaboration, your intelligence, your patriotism, and your service. It
is a privilege to work with each of you, and I am grateful for all the
opportunities we had to tackle big problems together.
I want to especially recognize my esteemed congressional mentors,
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who believed in me and supported
me in my very first primary; former Speaker John Boehner, who gave me
many opportunities to lead and make a difference; Representative Fred
Upton and Representative Greg Walden, who were amazing leaders on the
House Energy and Commerce Committee; and to our Republican leadership
team, who I have become very close to, Leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip
Steve Scalise, and Conference Chair Liz Cheney.
They approached their difficult jobs with enthusiasm, integrity, and
vision. Thank you for your encouragement, counsel, and wisdom, and for
all of our staffs.
Finally, to the people of the Fifth District, it has been the great
honor of my life to serve as your voice in Congress, your advocate, for
the last 8 years.
I would like to especially recognize the young people who
participated in my youth advisory groups, the thousands of constituents
who visited with me at Connect With Your Congresswoman events, the
educators and business leaders who made our Connecting Careers and
Classroom events such a success. You make me proud to be a Hoosier.
That brings me to my second step in rebuilding confidence in
Congress. We must remain closely connected, more closely than ever
before, to our home States, our communities, and the people we
represent. The laws we pass in Congress are focused on the national
level, but my first priority is and always has been serving the people
of the Fifth.
In 8 years, we worked with more than 4,500 constituents to help them
navigate government, resolve issues with Federal agencies like the
Veterans Administration, Medicare, assist with stalled international
adoptions, and even bring terrorists to justice for the murder of a
young Hoosier.
We worked with communities to support critical grants and initiatives
that are making the Fifth District of Indiana an even greater place to
live, work,
[[Page H7035]]
and grow. In Anderson, after years of effort, we secured support for
the 8th Street Bridge, a critical transportation link downtown.
We commemorated the 50th anniversary of Robert Kennedy's speech
following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I worked
with my fellow Hoosier Representative Andre Carson and Senators Young
and Donnelly to establish the Landmark for Peace Memorial in
Indianapolis as part of the African American Civil Rights Network.
It was the honor of a lifetime to be with the late civil rights icon
and my friend, Representative John Lewis, in Indiana to celebrate that
50 years of struggle and progress.
And, yes, we grieved with the city of Noblesville following a tragic
school shooting, but we honored the heroes, the teachers, the nurses,
and the school police officers who saved lives that day.
Yes, the job is difficult. But sometimes, this job is just fun.
Whether it is calling a brilliant young Hoosier to tell them they
received an appointment to attend a military academy, or whether we
have traveled the district and learned how puzzles are made at a
factory in Tipton, or we joined Indiana Wesleyan University students in
Marion to celebrate three national sports titles and their 100th
anniversary.
At Launch Fishers and zWorks in Zionsville, we saw the latest and
cutting-edge technology and met entrepreneurs on the cusp of the next
great idea.
It wouldn't be a trip home without mentioning the food, whether it
was enjoying the waffles after ringing the bell to open the farmers
market in my hometown of Carmel or grabbing a bite at the Indiana State
Fair Midway.
I can't thank all the farmers enough across the Fifth District for
opening their farms to me and helping me understand all the work that
goes into providing the food on our tables, both at home and around the
world.
I even got to try my hand at a few jobs, like spending a day as a UPS
driver in suburban Indianapolis.
But it is the conversations with the young Hoosiers that gave me so
much hope. I will never forget visiting the JROTC program at Blackford
High School and celebrating Veterans Day with them. The adventures
across the district and the warm welcomes I received will stay with me
for the rest of my life.
Beyond the job and remaining rooted in our districts, the third way
we can restore confidence in Congress is to take a hard look at
ourselves in the mirror to ensure that Congress truly embodies the
diversity that makes our Nation strong and to commit to a culture of
continuous improvement.
When my close friend, Representative Jackie Walorski, who is one of
my best friends here--we were elected in 2012--we were the first
Republican women to represent the State of Indiana in Washington, D.C.,
in 50 years. Representative Cecil Harden had come before us.
We joined a small, but mighty, group of women in the House who,
despite our political differences, agreed that Congress needed more
women. And last year, I took the baton from my dear friends,
Representative Elise Stefanik and Ann Wagner before her, and we led
Republican efforts to recruit more women and more people of color to
run for Congress.
This fall, more Republican women ran and won than ever before. Our
work must continue on both sides of the aisle if Congress is to truly
reflect the diversity of our country. It is one of the reasons I agreed
to co-chair the Bipartisan Women's Caucus with Representative Lois
Frankel.
Together, we led efforts to improve access to school around the globe
for girls. We worked to recognize the female leaders who came before
us, from the 100th anniversary of the first woman to serve in Congress,
Jeannette Rankin, to the annual Memorial Day service where we honor our
female veterans.
Importantly, we acted on the findings of the Indianapolis Star
investigation into sexual abuse of young Olympic hopefuls, to protect
young athletes from harm and to ensure that victims have access to
justice, and we did so across party lines.
Nowhere was bipartisanship more at work, though, than during my
service, first as a Member and then as chairwoman of the House Ethics
Committee. Holding that gavel not only made me the first Hoosier woman
to chair a congressional committee, but it was an unprecedented
opportunity to ensure transparency, accountability, access, and justice
in Congress. Little did I know that I would preside over the committee
at the same time that the #MeToo movement shone a light on the
pervasive problem of sexual harassment in our society and in our
government.
Like many of you, my good friend and the ranking member Ted Deutch
and I were shocked to learn that millions of dollars in settlements had
been paid by Congress to victims of sexual assault. Over the next year,
a bipartisan group of Members worked to reform the Congressional
Accountability Act to make it easier for victims to report sexual
harassment and to make sure that financial settlements aren't paid by
Members of Congress and that they must be disclosed to the public.
There is still so much work to be done, but I have to tell you, at
the end of my service here in Congress, the Select Committee on the
Modernization of Congress gives me much hope. I have been a proud
member of that committee. We recently published 97 bipartisan
recommendations focused on making Congress work more efficiently and
transparently and to be more responsive and accessible to the American
people.
A quarter of our recommendations have already been enacted, and I
hope the rest will soon follow, because if we are to debate 21st
century issues, we must bring our policies, technology, staff, and
communications into the modern age.
So, I strongly encourage and urge my colleagues and the new Members
of Congress to first read our report and then take up the select
committee's recommendations and continue the hard work. I want to thank
Representatives Kilmer and Graves for their leadership.
That brings me to my fourth and final step of rebuilding trust and
faith in Congress: ensuring we are looking ahead, beyond the most
pressing challenges of today, to those on the horizon.
Following the recession in 2009, many Americans were out of work.
Still more were underemployed. Our economy was and is moving quickly to
Industry 5.0 where careers in tech, connected devices, and AI become
the norm.
{time} 2045
If we aren't careful, this future will leave many of our fellow
citizens behind.
To that end, we have passed legislation to improve training and
workforce programs to retrain and deploy Americans who are out of work,
to expand 5G networks and rural broadband so more people can
participate in this industrial revolution and provide clear guardrails
for the technology industry to continue its rapid growth, while
offering better protection for our personal information, preventing
cyber threats and attacks.
Our world is changing fast, and Congress must keep up. When former
Representative Mike Rogers approached me about continuing his work to
strengthen our national biodefense, I knew it was important work.
Alongside my incredible partner who became a very dear friend,
Representative Anna Eshoo and I began engaging again in the biodefense
efforts that have been going on since the early 2000s, the
reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. It
was signed into law in 2019.
This legislation represents years of bipartisan collaboration and
thoughtful input from medical and public health preparedness and
response leaders. It helped bolster our response to natural disasters
and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.
When it was passed, I thought the greatest threats we faced were from
terrorist organizations like ISIS using chemical or biological weapons
in their attack, which are still a significant concern today. But
little did I realize that our Nation--our world--was on the verge of a
pandemic that would grind business, travel, and life as we knew it to a
halt.
I am glad we passed PAHPA when we did, and I know we must do better
in
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the future. When the next novel virus or biological unforeseen event
occurs, Americans will expect more from this institution. We can learn
from our successes and failures over the last 9 months and in the
months to come as we look toward a COVID-19 vaccine and, ultimately, a
return to our normal pace of life. We know some things will never be
the same.
Change must happen in our country to make good on our founding
promise that all people are created equal and that our rights to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are protected. How we do that is
a matter great debate playing out in our streets in protests, on social
media, around dinner tables, and in headlines.
It seems like there is no good solution and no way forward. It is up
to us--to every American--to forge a path together and to mend the
fissures that are breaking apart our Nation and our democracy.
I have spent the last 8 years engaged in this work day in and day
out. It is work I will continue for the rest of my life because the
truth is we have far more in common than we don't.
We are up to this task. I believe in the American spirit, in the
power of our ingenuity, and in the strength of our resolve.
We will get through these difficult days. This pandemic will end. We
will get Americans and businesses back to work and school.
We will overcome the scourge of racism and prejudice.
We will restore trust and confidence in our government and in
Congress.
We will once again see this Chamber full of big ideas aimed at
ensuring the American Dream is within reach for everyone.
I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the very last time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
____________________