[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2825]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       EXPRESSING MY APPRECIATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Andrews) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning in appreciation.
  Next week, I am leaving the Congress to pursue the chance to build a 
career in the private sector. I wanted to take a few minutes this 
morning to offer appreciation and thanksgiving for a lot of people who 
have helped make this wonderful experience possible.
  I start with, as in all things in my life, my wife, Camille, and my 
daughters, Jacquelyn and Josie, without whom nothing good would be 
possible and through whom all good things are.

                              {time}  1030

  I look forward to many, many more happy years, God willing, with them 
and thank them for their support and sacrifice.
  I thank my staff. Over all of these years, these men and women are 
overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated, sometimes by their 
employer. These are true public servants. They are inspirations, and I 
assure you that I have learned much more from them than I have taught 
to them.
  I want to single out, in particular, in the present staff, our chief 
of staff, Fran Tagmire; our general counsel, Amanda Caruso; and our 
legislative director, J.Z. Golden, for their excellence, and for many, 
many others over many, many years.
  I want to thank my colleagues. I thank Speaker Boehner for his 
friendship and leadership.
  I especially thank the first woman Speaker of the House of 
Representatives--in my view the best Speaker of the House of 
Representatives--Nancy Pelosi, who has taught me strength and principle 
and doggedness and focus, and whose inspiration will guide me, my 
daughters, and others' sons and daughters for many years to come. I 
thank her profoundly for her influence and service.
  I thank all of my colleagues. I want to come back to that in a 
minute.
  I most especially thank the people of the First Congressional 
District of the State of New Jersey, who have been the best employer 
one could possibly have for these last 24 years. And, yes, I would 
include the people who stop us in the supermarket and complain about a 
vote that we have cast or wonder why we haven't solved a problem. There 
are a few of them.
  There are many, many more whose words of encouragement have lifted us 
up for all these years, and I assure you that we appreciate you, and we 
are staying in our community and looking forward to new ways that we 
can serve our friends and our neighbors.
  I especially, though, do want to come back to the men and women with 
whom I have had the privilege of serving for all these years. We have 
done a lot of things that are good together. Some of us have not always 
agreed on what is good together, but we passed the Affordable Care Act, 
which I believe will withstand the test of time and will stand together 
with Medicare and Social Security as pillars of middle class prosperity 
and American opportunity.
  We have opened the door for college students with the direct student 
loan program that has helped many, many millions of students get an 
education.
  We have improved our environment. In our district at home, there are 
construction workers building transportation projects today because of 
our work. There are police and firefighters and teachers on the job 
because of our cooperation.
  There are two veterans health clinics. We can simply not say thank 
you with our words to our veterans, but by our deeds. And I must say 
this morning that I especially remember young men and women on duty 
around the world serving our country, and I express my deepest 
appreciation to them.
  But to my colleagues, I would say this, that I have had 150,000 
constituents over the years come to our office with various issues and 
problems, and they are certainly an inspiration. But so, too, ladies 
and gentlemen, are you, my colleagues.
  The House is a rambunctious and energetic place. I suspect we will 
see some of that rambunctiousness even later today. We have seen a 
little bit this morning. People should not confuse debate with 
division. Healthy, passionate debate is the elixir of American 
democracy. It is the fuel that makes the country better. And for those 
who look at the House and say, well, all they ever do is argue with 
each other, I would certainly hope so. I would certainly hope we would 
bring to this Chamber deeply held beliefs, deeply held convictions, and 
express them in the course of debate.
  Of course, there is time for compromise, and there is always a season 
to get the job done; but may this place never lose the strong 
convictions of people, right and left, Republican and Democrat, north, 
south, east, and west, because that is what makes democracy go.
  I would also say this, that we, in this Chamber, should never confuse 
a difference of opinion with a difference of intention. I have served 
here for nearly 24 years, and I can safely say I have never met a 
fellow Member who does not love this country, who was not here for the 
purpose of improving this country as he or she sees that improvement. I 
have certainly disagreed with the definition of ``improvement,'' but I 
have never questioned the motivation or motive of any of the men and 
women with whom I have had the privilege of serving.
  So my admonition would be: Keep the energy flowing. Those who 
misunderstand debate, let them misunderstand it. Keep the passionate 
beliefs that occupy this place going. And when we do, I believe with 
great confidence that the institution will continue to lead the way to 
a country that is more prosperous, more safe, more free, and more 
generous than any nation in the history of the face of the Earth.
  It has been an honor and a privilege to serve. I thank each of you 
who has given me this privilege.

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