Sam Farr: “Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, George Miller, for setting aside this time. You've heard from a lot of…”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, George Miller, for setting aside this time. You've heard from a lot of my colleagues. I think what is interesting about this moment in history is this is probably the largest retirement ever of any delegation at any one time. California is losing 25 percent of its incumbent delegation, seven Republicans and seven Democrats. That's 14 people that have been here. Of the seven Democrats, they were here for historical moments--of electing Nancy Pelosi from California, the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives; and here to pass the first-in-history comprehensive health care bill, led by Californians, I might add, and led by the dean of our delegation, Pete Stark. Pete Stark is one of the oldest, longest serving Members of Congress. He has been here 40 years. I think there are only two, three people that have served here longer. He's watched this delegation come and go since 1973. He is here tonight with his beautiful family. Pete, of all the people coming into Congress, is the only one that just came right from the private sector. Most of us got elected to the local and State governments, but Pete came here with a background in MIT, in engineering, and then a degree from Berkeley in business administration. In 1963, he founded the Security National Bank of Walnut Creek, which became, during the war years, known as the progressive bank and the bank that was going to loan to people that weren't otherwise getting loans.…”