[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 15896-15897]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 I AM PROUD OF MY FOUR YEARS OF SERVICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Murphy) is recognized 
for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. MURPHY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from California for his service, for his dedication to making it in 
America and continuing to support those in agriculture, those who are 
working so hard to feed this Nation, everything they bring. I want to 
thank the gentleman.
  I rise today as a humble Member of this body, representing the people 
of Florida's 18th Congressional District since 2013. Four years ago, I 
came to Congress to work as an independent thinker toward bipartisan 
solutions, making sure that we are moving our country forward but also 
moving our Nation forward.
  To that end, I started the Congressional United Solutions Caucus with 
likeminded Members from both sides of the aisle. Working together, we 
introduced major bipartisan legislation that would cut nearly $500 
billion in government spending over 10 years by rooting out waste, 
inefficiencies, and finding some wasteful spending. I am proud that 
several of the commonsense measures outlined in the SAVE Act were 
actually passed as part of the House annual appropriations process, 
showing that both parties can actually work together to get our fiscal 
house in order.
  Furthermore, I have been proud of the bipartisan work of our State's 
delegation to put Florida first. Together, we passed major legislation 
that I introduced with Congressman Dennis Ross from Florida to improve 
the flood insurance market, giving Florida families more options for 
flood insurance coverage by bringing down the cost of those policies.
  As the founder and the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional 
Citrus Caucus, I worked with my colleagues Tom Rooney and Vern Buchanan 
to secure almost $150 million for citrus greening research that is 
vital to our State's iconic orange industry. We also passed legislation 
to expand tax incentives for replanting efforts to help the local 
farmers impacted by greening.
  Just last week, the House passed the WINGMAN Act that I introduced 
with Congressman Ted Yoho from Florida to remove barriers that prevent 
congressional staff, who already are working closely with the VA and 
local veterans on their claims, from being able to update constituents 
in a more timely manner. This change would help alleviate the burden on 
VA staff, better serve the veterans by expediting the claims process, 
and help tackle the backlog of cases.
  We also brought Members together, not just from Florida but across 
the

[[Page 15897]]

Nation, to bring attention to the crisis in our local waterways and 
highlight the urgent need for Everglades restoration efforts to help 
provide long-term relief to our communities. I will never forget how 
touched and humbled I was to see more than 100 Floridians make their 
trip to Washington. Some of those folks came up 14 hours by bus to have 
their voices heard at a historic congressional briefing on our 
waterways that I helped host in October of 2013.
  In the midst of a government shutdown, 22 Members of Congress, 
including Democrats and Republicans, Senator Bill Nelson, Leader Nancy 
Pelosi, and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
Chairman Bill Shuster came together with experts, community leaders, 
and residents to raise awareness for advocates of the solutions that 
are needed.
  Every day, I am given extraordinary opportunities to help the people 
of Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast. Every day, I am afforded an 
opportunity to make a difference in a person's life. I am proud that, 
over the past 4 years, we have assisted thousands of constituents, 
helping to return over $4 million in earned benefits for the district. 
Those are lifechanging results that partisan bickering cannot take 
away.
  Too often, the negative attacks and partisanship overshadow the 
issues that actually matter to American families. We desperately need a 
new era of politics with leaders who put their country before their 
party, who solve problems instead of pointing fingers, and who are 
committed to service.
  While the outcome of this past election was not what I had hoped for 
for our State or for our Nation, there is still a window of opportunity 
for new leaders to make changes in America that our country is clearly 
yearning for. Much of the system is broken, from the money in politics 
to the corporate influences and the gerrymandering. There is too much 
outside impact influencing our election process.
  I also agree that many laws and regulations could use adjustments to 
work better for the American people and for our country. But let us 
remember that the outcome of this past election was not a mandate for 
many of the policy actions that are being discussed right now. Instead, 
we saw a still-divided nation making it more important than ever that 
we have solutions that work for all Americans, not some Americans.
  That is why I hope to see a new focus on tackling climate change, tax 
reform, investing in our infrastructure, rebuilding the middle class, 
improving educational opportunities, and protecting our country from 
the threats of cyber attacks and terrorism, all things I championed 
during my time in this Chamber.
  But above all, I hope that we do not move our country backwards. That 
requires leaders who can unite us, not those using fear and lies to 
further divide this country. I will always be the first to say that we 
must work together--not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as 
Americans. However, we cannot simply gloss over the hateful and 
divisive rhetoric that plagued our country this past year. The United 
States is better than this, and the world is watching.
  As an eternal optimist, I am hopeful that our leaders will work 
together to begin to heal these wounds and move our country forward 
together, showing that we are stronger than those who wish to divide 
us. That is what I will keep pushing for and hope that our leaders in 
Washington will join me in fighting for what is right for the American 
people.
  My commitment to our community, to the great State of Florida, and to 
our Nation will always continue. Thank you to my constituents, to my 
colleagues, and to my team for an honor of a lifetime, serving the 
Treasure Coast and Palm Beach here in the United States Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________