[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18273-18274]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      MY FINAL SPEECH IN CONGRESS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 27, 2012

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, it's difficult for me to come to the floor 
today after 20 years in Congress and say ``goodbye'' to my constituents 
and fellow colleagues.
  When I was 10 years old, I decided I wanted to be a Member of the 
United States House of Representatives. I want to thank everybody for 
making possible my boyhood dream. After I graduated from law school, I 
immediately settled in a town of 3,500 people, Oregon, Illinois, the 
county seat of Ogle County. I raised beef cattle on a small farm, and 
at age 38 met Freda, the woman who changed my life dramatically.
  In 1990, I ran for Congress and lost in the primary. I decided I 
would not run again, until Freda encouraged me to fulfill that boyhood 
dream. In 1992, I won the March primary and the November election 
against incredible odds. How this unknown country lawyer, with no 
political experience and who lives outside a town of 42 people, could 
get elected to Congress is a testament to what we call the ``American 
Dream.''
  During the Freshmen retreat in Baltimore, Kay Cole James, who later 
became President George W. Bush's Director of the Office of Personnel 
Management, warned us that if we ever took for granted the magnificence 
of the great monuments in Washington--the U.S. Capitol, the Lincoln, 
Jefferson, and Washington monuments--then it was time to leave. Every 
time I've seen those monuments--now thousands of times after 20 years--
I've thought of Kay's wise counsel. And I've never grown tired of 
seeing them and what they stand for.
  Swearing-in day, the first week of January of 1993, was overwhelming. 
I saw my name on the voting board and saw mom and Freda in the gallery. 
Our three kids were on the floor of the House with me. As the time came 
for us to raise our right hands to be sworn in, my life paraded in 
front of me within a few seconds: the little 10-year-old boy dreaming 
of this very moment, the virtually unbeatable odds to get elected, the 
unspeakable honor of becoming a Member of the House of Representatives, 
the lives given on battlefields to preserve this country's government, 
the people who had served from the time of the First Congress under the 
Constitution.
  On swearing-in day, our family made a special trip to view the 
Emancipation Proclamation at the National Archives, where it was on 
display only for a few days. We had to get permission to get in before 
regular hours. Just the five of us stood in front of that document, and 
my heart pounded. I was from his State. He gave his life to protect the 
God-given freedom of others.
  (The newspaper article written about that experience with the 
Emancipation Proclamation caught the eye of Loretta Carter Haynes, 
whose family members generations ago were slaves in Washington, D.C. 
For years she had been trying to get the National Park Service to ring 
the bells in the Old Post Office in downtown Washington to commemorate 
the District of Columbia emancipation act of April 16, 1862, which 
predated the more famous proclamation by Lincoln six months later. Our 
office intervened, and today those bells ring faithfully every April 
16).
  As the Speaker started the ceremony and asked us to raise our right 
hands and repeat the Oath, my eyes were flooded and my voice crackled 
as I tried to repeat the words of office, but was unable to voice them 
because of the awesomeness of the occasion. The kids looked at me then 
and at the next nine swearing-ins, when the same thing happened every 
time. This, perhaps, was one of those monuments of which Kay Cole James 
had spoken.
  Committee Assignments are very important in Congress, but I chose two 
committees that many Members shy away from: Small Business, because I 
had been raised in small business my entire life and could relate to 
the people running small businesses, and Foreign Affairs, where I had 
developed an interest in international relations, especially Asia, when 
I studied at American University in Washington between 1964 and 1967. 
Four years later, I was also appointed to what is now known as the 
Financial Services Committee.
  It's hard to imagine the significance of my choosing Small Business 
and Foreign Affairs committees, especially since few Members ever ask 
for them as their first choice. I eventually became the Chairman of the 
Small Business Committee in 2001, where I expanded the services of the 
Small Business Administration while cutting unneeded personnel by 25 
percent and its budget by nearly $300 million dollars over the course 
of my six-year term. Because of my interest in Asia and service on 
Foreign Affairs, the Speaker appointed me as the first Chairman of the 
US-China Inter-parliamentary Exchange.
  There was an Exchange meeting in Beijing between me and President 
Jiang Zemin in

[[Page 18274]]

2003. As we were discussing various issues, I asked myself and prayed 
how I ended up with this great honor of representing the House of 
Representatives.
  People have asked what I consider to be the most memorable events of 
my career. Was it interacting with presidents? Meeting a certain 
foreign leader? No: it has been the opportunity to mentor students and 
many of my young staff. In November of this year, I received a note 
from a constituent who also attends the same church as I do in Leaf 
River. He had helped in our 2012 primary. He wrote to me thanking me 
for a conversation I had with him in November of 1999 while he attended 
an annual Youth Conference I hosted. In his letter to me, he stated: 
``I shared with you some of the struggles I was experiencing as a new 
Christian in a hostile high school environment. Your words of 
encouragement touched me deeply, and you wrote me a note in my little 
book that I have kept for almost 13 years. I scanned this note today 
and wanted to send it to you as a way of saying thank you for being a 
mentor to me, both when I was just a kid in high school and now as an 
adult who is interested in a career in public service. Your model for 
serving the people of the United States as an extension of your service 
to God is something worthy of great respect and admiration.''
  He then attached a copy of the note I had written him: ``November 19, 
1999. Adam, continue to believe that people who really care need to 
stay involved, even when circumstances dictate the opposite. Be of good 
cheer. God Bless. Donald Manzullo, United States Congress.''
  I've always believed that God has a purpose and a plan for every 
life. After the 2012 primary, Freda and I received a letter from a lady 
who attends our church in Leaf River: ``I know God has a plan for your 
lives so I'm not going to say I'm sorry about the outcome of the 
election--'cause I'm not. It's just time to put your fishing boat and 
nets away, and `Follow Him.'''
  Where He leads, I don't know.
  In closing, my mind goes back to my dear, fellow Illinois 
congressman, Abraham Lincoln, who, in his Gettysburg address, stated: 
``The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but 
we can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather 
to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here 
have thus far so nobly advanced.''
  Years from now no one may remember the many times I spoke on this 
House floor or the causes I championed. People might look at my 
portrait hanging in the Small Business Committee hearing room and 
wonder, ``Who is he?'' But the answer is simple. We all have a part in 
Lincoln's unfinished work. I am just one man, whose deep love for this 
country caused him to leave his private sector job and enter into a 
life of public service. For that great honor, I will always be grateful 
to the citizens of the 16th Congressional District of Illinois who 
allowed me to serve on their behalf. I encourage all Members to truly 
remember whom they represent: not a political party; not organizations 
but people.

                          ____________________