[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

[[Page H7036]]

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.

                          ____________________