[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15088]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       WELCOMING THE HONORABLE SUZAN K. DelBENE TO THE HOUSE OF 
                            REPRESENTATIVES

  The SPEAKER. Without objection, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. 
Dicks) is recognized for 1 minute.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure for the Washington 
congressional delegation to welcome our newest Member, Suzan DelBene, 
who had the distinction of winning not just one, but two elections last 
week.
  She was elected in a special election to fill the remainder of 
Congressman Jay Inslee's term, and she was also elected last week to be 
the Representative of a newly configured First District in the 113th 
Congress.
  Throughout her campaign, Suzan was able to successfully connect with 
voters because of her upbringing and because of her experience. She 
spoke to the struggles her parents went through in raising her family 
and of working her way through college. She earned a bachelor's degree 
from Reed College in Portland and received an MBA from the University 
of Washington.
  Following her academic work, Suzan had a very successful career at 
Microsoft and at two high-tech startup companies, and then was 
appointed director of the Washington Department of Revenue. Suzan is a 
high-energy person, someone who will work well with our delegation and 
with all of our colleagues here in the House in the next Congress.
  At this time, I would like to yield to the gentleman from 
Washington's Fourth Congressional District, Congressman Hastings, the 
chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, who joins me in welcoming 
our newest Member.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  And let me be the first here in this post session of Congress to say 
that this is the last session that our senior colleague from Washington 
(Mr. Dicks) will be serving, and he will be certainly missed. And I 
want to be the first to say that we will miss you here in this body.
  But when somebody leaves, somebody new comes in, albeit not the same 
district. Suzan, I want to welcome you to the Washington caucus. While 
we're a diverse State, as you well know, we have found that on issues 
we agree on, we work very, very well together, and we look forward to 
working with you.
  And I know that this is not your first run here, so I'll congratulate 
you more on the second run than the first run. Welcome to the Congress.
  Mr. DICKS. I now yield to Suzan DelBene to address the House.
  Ms. DelBENE. I want to thank Congressman Dicks and Congressman 
Hastings for the very kind introduction. It's a great honor to be here.
  Mr. Speaker, Leader Pelosi, members of the Washington delegation, and 
Members of the 112th Congress, it's truly an honor for me to be here 
with you today.
  I would first like to thank all those who supported me throughout 
this journey; in particular, my family; my husband, Kurt, who is up in 
the gallery; and my children, Rebecca and Zachary, who are both off in 
college right now. I am very grateful to share this moment with them.
  It's a great privilege to represent the people of Washington's First 
Congressional District, both the current and the future versions of it. 
I am honored to be given this opportunity by the voters of western 
Washington, and I truly appreciate their support. I will work very, 
very hard to serve them well.
  I look forward to working with all of you, and I am honored to be 
able to serve alongside the very distinguished members of the 
Washington delegation. I am very excited to roll up my sleeves and get 
to work right away.
  Thanks again. I appreciate all of your support.
  Mr. DICKS. I yield back the balance of my time.

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