Jane Harman: “I regret that my final hours in the House are not among its finest hours. My dream of public service began in 1960…”

“I regret that my final hours in the House are not among its finest hours. My dream of public service began in 1960, when, as a high school student, I witnessed the nomination of John F. Kennedy for President of the United States. Congress is the only public office I have ever held. My record reflects many attempts to generate and embrace bipartisan solutions. My bipartisan district has applauded these efforts like last year's balanced budget agreement. But it also shares my dismay at the tenure of our floor debate last week on whether to begin an inquiry of impeachment of the President. The floor debate had more the feeling of a rally than a sober exercise of one of Congress's most awesome responsibilities under the Constitution. Indeed, it seemed to me that many Members in the Chamber were gleeful and that the exercise was payback for some earlier slight, whether from the President or someone else. Mr. Speaker, thousands of my constituents have contacted me in the past 2 months and by a recent count of 9 to 1 have made clear they find the President's conduct wrong, as I do, but they do not want him impeached. Mr. Speaker, I have said in other forums that not only is the President on trial, so is Congress. Unless we show the Nation we can trust and respect each other, the Nation will not trust and respect the result of our inquiry. I regret that my final hours in the House are not among its finest hours.”