[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 25447-25448]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Montana (Mr. Hill) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HILL of Montana. Mr. Speaker, tonight is a difficult moment for 
me because this probably will be my last opportunity to address this 
House because when this session ends my service in this institution 
will end. I would just like to take a moment, if I could,

[[Page 25448]]

and reflect upon these last few years. I think back to my father, who 
left school when he was 13 years old, the end of eighth grade. He had 
to do that in order to get a job, in order to support his brothers and 
his sisters and his mother. He served in World War II and after the end 
of the war, a friend offered to lend him $100 to get started in a tire 
repair shop. He jumped at the chance to take that loan and start that 
business because he saw that as his only opportunity to realize what we 
referred to, I guess, as the ``American Dream.''
  What I remember about my parents is how hard they worked because they 
worked hard all of their lives. My father is no longer living. I can 
remember my mother even taking care of boarders in our house in order 
to help our family make ends meet. So if we measure success by how much 
money people accumulate or how many things they have, then we would not 
put my parents in the success category. They measured success another 
way. They believed in certain values. Those values were hard work and 
family and faith and individual responsibility, and they believed that 
in this country and in our society that if one works hard then anybody 
can have their chance to pursue their dream and their idea of success. 
They believed also that it was every generation's obligation to make 
sure that they passed that opportunity on to the next generation of 
Americans.
  My sisters and I inherited more opportunities than my parents had. I 
got to go to college. I raised a family. I had a successful business. I 
have a terrific wife, three wonderful children, three delightful 
grandchildren. When I asked the people of Montana to elect me to 
represent them here, I told them that for me this was about our 
children and about our grandchildren.
  The people in this country, the people of Montana, were frightened 
just a few years ago. They thought perhaps this idea, this American 
dream, was lost for generations to come, and the reason for that was 
their government. If we remember, we had deficits, $250 or $300 billion 
a year going forward as far as the eye could see. The national debt was 
approaching the size of our national economy.
  Social Security and Medicare, two important programs, were in serious 
jeopardy. Medicare was scheduled to go to bankrupt.
  It was not just a budget deficit that the people of Montana were 
expressing to me. They said there was another deficit, too, and that 
was the deficit in individual responsibility and personal 
responsibility that they saw in our society; a runaway welfare system; 
illegitimacy; broken families. The list goes on and on. We have made a 
lot of progress in the last few years on these important subjects. The 
fiscal house of the nation is in better shape than it has been in a 
long time. We cut over 50 Government programs to help get us there. The 
budget is balanced, and it looks like it will stay balanced long into 
the future. Medicare at least is solvent for another 20 years. Social 
Security, we have ended 40 years of raiding the surplus in the Social 
Security trust fund, and that money hopefully will be set aside for 
generations in the future as well.
  We lowered taxes for our families so that those families can make 
more decisions over how their money gets spent, empowering them to make 
better decisions as well.
  This country is a unique place and it is based upon an idea, an idea, 
I guess we refer to it as the American dream, but it is also important 
for us to realize it is based upon principles of freedom and the 
principles of liberty, because that is how we pursue our dreams. That 
is why we are a creative nation, why we are entrepreneurial, why we are 
competitive and why this is such a dynamic place to live, is because of 
these freedoms and this liberty.
  I have endeavored throughout my service here to promote those values, 
the values of competition, of freedom and liberty, to empower people 
and give people the power to make their own choices.
  There are some people that I want to thank tonight, my wife, Betio; 
my mom, who watches C-SPAN religiously and thinks that the gentleman 
from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) is the best Congressman, and I am second 
best; my children, Todd, Corey, and Mike; my grandchildren, Kadrian, 
Parker, Levy, and one on the way who is not named yet; my loyal staff 
who has worked so hard.
  I especially want to thank the Members that I have served with here. 
What makes this such a special place, and sometimes I think people 
watching or listening misunderstand, is that the people carry such 
passionate views and so much caring about their constituents and the 
things they believe in to this floor and debate them on behalf of their 
constituents. I want to thank you all for your advice and your counsel, 
your help and your support and your encouragement; and finally I want 
to thank the people of Montana who temporarily entrusted me with this 
job, caretaker over this office. I want to thank them for the honor and 
the privilege they have bestowed upon me to represent them in this 
special place.

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