[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 19402-19403]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            CONGRESSMAN ETHERIDGE BIDS FAREWELL TO CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the House. I will 
be leaving Congress at the conclusion of this term, and I want to take 
a few minutes to speak to my colleagues and the people of North 
Carolina's Second District, the people whose hopes and dreams, whose 
fears and apprehensions, whose challenges and opportunities have been 
my first and only priority every day for the past 14 years.
  We are joined here today in the gallery by my wife, Faye, who has 
been the foundation of my world for 45 years. No man has ever been 
blessed with a finer family, and Faye has been the light of my life for 
each of those days.
  I want to thank Faye. It's not easy being a Congressman's wife. The 
schedule is never your own; it's constantly shifting. Folks call your 
house or knock on your door--they have ours--at all hours of the day 
and night. And unfortunately, this past year brought us ugliness on a 
scale never seen before. Faye has endured it all and has been for me a 
constant source of strength, a sounding board of unfailing common 
sense, and a partner in every sense of the word. Thank you, Faye.
  And I want to thank my staff. As Members, we get all the credit and 
the glory, but it is the folks behind the scenes who do the grunt work 
that make it all possible. I have always said I have the best staff on 
Capitol Hill and also the best staff back in my home district, and I 
believe that's true.
  We are joined today--I hope by watching--by Russ Swindell, my chief 
of staff; Pat Devlin, my D.C. chief; Dr. David Weinreich, Ph.D, my 
legislative director; senior legislative assistant Chris Medley; 
legislative assistants La'Tanta McCrimmon and Andrew Dugan; legislative 
correspondent Mim Williams; press secretary Austin Vevurka; executive 
assistant Julia Cava; and staff assistant Mollie Jones.
  In my Lillington office, district representatives William Munn and 
Mercedes Restucha. And our Raleigh district staff, representatives 
Carolyn Smith, Sonia Barnes, and Mike Little; Amy Hornbuckle, who is 
our district scheduler, a very difficult job; Christy Sandy, our grants 
coordinator; and Debbie Privette, caseworker and projects coordinator.
  We call ourselves ``Team Etheridge,'' and for 14 great years we've 
been an incredible, effective team. I am proud of each and every member 
of Team Etheridge, and prouder still of what together we have 
accomplished for the people of North Carolina and this great country.
  As I look back on my service in this body--a body which I am proud to 
have had the opportunity to serve in--I am reminded of the many great 
men and women I have had the honor to serve with here in the people's 
House, folks like David Price of North Carolina, and really the entire 
North Carolina delegation, leaders like Steny Hoyer and the entire 
Democratic leadership who made this session one of historic 
significance on behalf of the American people.
  On the other side of the aisle, I've been proud to have worked with 
people like my friend Jerry Moran of Kansas, Ray LaHood, and our former 
colleague, Bob Riley, now the Governor of Alabama. This body needs more 
people willing to put partisan differences aside in order to get work 
done for the greater good of our country.
  I have been honored to serve with so many individuals I admire, like 
John Spratt of South Carolina, Collin Peterson, Ike Skelton, John 
Lewis, and others far too numerous to mention. Congress may be an 
imperfect institution, but our Nation is fortunate to have had the 
benefit of statesmen and patriots serving in this body.

[[Page 19403]]

  My life has truly been the American Dream. I was raised on a Johnston 
County tenant farm where neither my mother nor my father owned their 
home nor the land they farmed. Neither had a high school education, but 
valued education. Yet, I have been able to serve my country in the 
United States Army, graduate from college, play basketball, have a 
successful career in business, be elected to leadership positions at 
the county, State and Federal levels.
  All that was possible by education. Public education is the key to 
the future because it provides for everyone who is willing to work hard 
the opportunity to make the most of his or her God-given ability. That 
is why, for me, all of my years in public life have been about creating 
a brighter future for our children.
  As we look to the future, we can take great pride in the many 
accomplishments and countless lives that have been touched. Every 
single day since we opened our doors in 1997, my staff and I have 
worked hard to provide outstanding constituent services to anyone and 
everyone who needed our help in the Second District. These are real 
lives we have changed, from disabled veterans who needed benefits, to 
senior citizens who needed assistance with Medicare, or a nonprofit 
requiring a grant to keep serving people in our community; and I am 
truly proud of my staff for the constituent services they provided in 
our district.
  I know I am biased, and I admit that, but I think we have the staff 
that is second to none. We have achieved significant policy changes and 
accomplishments that really are making a difference in people's lives. 
Our Hometown Heroes Act gives widows and orphans of first responders--
and those first responders include rescue squad, firemen, and sworn 
police officers--who were killed in the line of duty--or lose their 
life, I should say, in the line of duty--the peace of mind that comes 
with receiving survivor benefits. Because of this law, those who die of 
a heart attack or stroke as they protect our communities are recognized 
in the same way as others who make the ultimate sacrifice to keep us 
safe.

                              {time}  1450

  The other day, a friend of mine sent me a clipping from the Boston 
Globe about a local firefighter who died on Thanksgiving Day after 
suffering a heart attack, responding to an emergency call. Now, I've 
never lived in Boston. I've lived my whole life in North Carolina, 
except for the time I was away on military service. But because of the 
work we did on the Hometown Heroes Act, the widow and two young 
children of that brave firefighter will have the security of the 
Federal Public Safety Officers' Benefits fund that they would not 
otherwise have had. That is a story that is replicated across this 
country thousands of times. That fact gives me a sense of pride and 
makes my heart glow.
  The HIRE Act that was passed into law last year provided tax credits 
to small businesses that add workers to their payroll. That new law is 
helping turn the recession into a recovery, and it's replacing 
unemployment checks with paychecks for the middle class and workers 
struggling to get into the middle class.
  For the first time in history, we had the opportunity to write a farm 
bill that is about nutrition and energy and provides hope for the 
future of family farmers and rural communities. And the Etheridge 
School Construction bonds that I spent more than 12 years working to 
get passed into law are being put to work now in North Carolina and all 
across America. All across this country, the Etheridge bonds are 
creating jobs, building schools, and improving education for our 
children.
  Those are just a few of the examples of a record of accomplishments 
that I will always be proud of and a legacy of leadership that I hope 
others will look to follow.
  I have approached my role as a Member of this body as representing 
all the people of the Second District in North Carolina, listening to 
all sides of an issue and doing right by the people. Sometimes you 
don't always make everyone happy, but I can rest my head on a pillow at 
night knowing that I always did what I thought was right for the people 
that I represent in the Second District of North Carolina.
  I have always believed that public office is a public trust. I've 
worked every day in the people's House, the U.S. House of 
Representatives, to honor that trust and to earn the faith of the 
people that I was elected to serve.
  As I prepare to leave this office, I do so with my head held high, 
with my heart filled with gratitude for all the people who have helped 
me along life's journey. Many of us are disappointed by the outcome of 
the previous election, none more than I am. But we move forward, 
knowing that God still has work for us to do. There are many ways to 
serve the people, and other opportunities to serve will come. And at 
the end of the day, I will always be a proud North Carolinian, a 
patriotic American, and a humble public servant.
  May God continue to bless the United States of America.

                          ____________________