[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 199 (Wednesday, December 21, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H9920-H9921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FAREWELL TO CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Speier) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, this is my last speech on the House floor. 
I have given hundreds of speeches on this floor, but there will be no 
more. I am reminded of a quotation, each of us is called to do 
something, and if we don't do it, it won't get done.
  For almost 15 years now, I have had the privilege to be in this 
Chamber to

[[Page H9921]]

do this work. Like many staffers who come to this great building, they 
seek to one day become Members of Congress, and I became one of those.
  I was legislative counsel to the late Congressman Leo Ryan, who was 
assassinated in Jonestown, Guyana, trying to extract constituents who 
had been held there against their will by a cult leader name Jim Jones.
  I am proud that, along with Congresswoman Gabby Giffords' name, 
Congressman Leo Ryan's name now appears above the Democratic cloakroom. 
I was shot five times on that airstrip and left to die, but obviously 
survived, and committed the rest of my life to public service.
  In fact, I have the record here in Congress of being the Member who 
had the longest stretch between the time they first ran for Congress, 
which was 29 years before I was elected the second time.
  What I know is this: We are specks in the timeline of history--few 
will remember us, but they will remember events. The corridor to the 
Members' dining room on the House side shows a mural of L'Enfant 
choosing the site for the U.S. Capitol, then President Washington is 
seen actually laying the cornerstone, and then in 1814 the British 
burning the Capitol, and then the Rotunda being used to house Union 
soldiers as a medical center.
  There is one more mural that has to be placed in that corridor. It is 
the mural of January 6.
  What will we do to prevent another one? That is the challenge to all 
of us.
  What will we do to lower the rhetorical temperature in this sanctuary 
of democracy?
  Will we ever end the blood sport that goes on in this Chamber?
  Above us on the ceiling is the eagle with the words e pluribus unum: 
Out of many, one. It is our duty to our constituents, not to our 
Facebook audience or Twitter followers. It is not our goal to increase 
our followers. It is our duty to increase the confidence of our 
constituents in democracy in getting things done.
  Madam Speaker, I hope the 118th Congress will do what I was not able 
to do in 10 years and get the ERA into the Constitution of the United 
States; it is 24 words. Every democracy in the world has an ERA in 
their constitution but the United States.
  I hope that we will restore the right to reproductive autonomy for 
every woman.
  I hope that we will do what we should do and pass an assault weapons 
ban. Surely, we can prohibit the purchase of these weapons of war by 
teenagers.
  We should make permanent the child tax credit; we lifted half of the 
children in this country out of poverty last year when we did that.
  We have got to do a better job of providing for our servicemen and 
servicewomen.
  Madam Speaker, I have had an extraordinary staff these almost 15 
years. They make me sound smarter than I am, more articulate than I am. 
They work long hours to move legislation. They plan conferences in the 
district for senior citizens, job seekers, students, and all the many, 
many townhalls we have had.
  Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the names of former staff 
members. They are the sheroes and heroes of this institution.




                            Former DC Staff

     Barron YoungSmith
     Benjamin Broadmeadow
     Chuck Jackson
     Christine Seibert
     Emily Small
     Felix Wu
     Gina Davenport
     Greg Roth
     Heather Melancon
     Ian Staples
     Jacquii Wang
     James Pollack
     Jason Hamm
     Jenny Werwa
     Josh Connolly
     Justin Vogt
     Kat Skyles
     Kate Brennan
     Kate Loomis
     Katherine Brandt
     Kenneth Dowling
     Lindsey Stein
     Luke Huisenga
     Mandy Smithberger
     Mia Mazer
     Michelle McGrain
     Mike Beard
     Miriam Goldstein
     Mitchel Hochberg
     Molly Fishman
     Nahmyo Thomas
     Nina Serianne
     Page Beavers
     Peter Viola
     Rachel Marshall
     Regi Sellote
     Ryan Galisewski
     Sera Alptekin
     Thomas Puppi
     Yelena Tsilker


                            Current DC Staff

     Yana Mayayeva
     Kate Adams
     Tracy Manzer
     Brian Collins
     Ali Musser
     Luisa Gunn
     Nolan Dunnahoo


                     Current District Office Staff

     Katrina Rill
     Raghda Karajah
     Angela Kimble
     Brian Perkins
     Sara Trejo


                      Former District Office Staff

       
     Mike Larsen
     Tina Larsen
     Margaret Hernandez
     Mark Nagales
     Margo Rosen
     Mike Aydelott
     Katie Ferrick
     Kathleen Wentworth
     Richard Steffen
     Samantha Logan
     Niall Roberts
     Estefani Morales
     Alexandra Carter
     Barbara Braganza
     Carolyn Wylie
     Tom Adams
     Michelle Kong
     Aaron Keisler
     Shauna France
     Mark Leach
     John Krolik
     Alana Paul
     Ellen Ginsberg
     Julie Hoffman
     Jonathan Gast
     Samantha Rojas
     Meghan Coulson
     Rebecca Wolfson
     Alyson Megur
     Liz Becker

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I thank my constituents for the greatest 
opportunity of my life--to serve them.

                          ____________________