[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18730]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            IN RESPONSE TO ADOPTION OF HOUSE RESOLUTION 1737

  (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. RANGEL. I fully recognize that constitutionally this body has the 
full jurisdiction to determine the conduct of one of its Members. My 
predecessor suffered because they didn't allow him to be a Member 
before they decided that he should be expelled. But notwithstanding 
that, we do know that we are a political body; and even though it is 
painful to accept this vote, I am fully aware that this vote reflects 
perhaps the thinking not just of the Members but the political tide and 
the constituency of this body.
  Having said that and having my opportunity to do what I wanted to do 
initially, and, that is, to make certain that this body and this 
country would know that at no time has it ever entered my mind to 
enrich myself or to do violence to the honesty that's expected of all 
of us in this House. I think that has been proven, and that has been 
what I have been asking for. That's why I have admitted to mistakes and 
was prepared to do what I have done.
  I understand that this is a new criteria and a breakthrough in order 
to teach somebody a higher lesson than those that in the past have done 
far more harm to the reputation of this body than I. But I just would 
want all of you to know that, in my heart, I truly feel good. It's not 
all the commitments that I made to God in 1950. A lot of it has to do 
with the fact that I know in my heart that I am not going to be judged 
by this Congress, but I am going to be judged by my life, my 
activities, my contributions to society. I just apologize for the 
awkward position that some of you are in. But at the end of the day, as 
I started off saying, compared to where I've been, I haven't had a bad 
day since. Thank you.

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