Charles T. Canady: “some time in the next few days, the last vote of the 106th Congress will be cast. For those of us who will not be…”

“some time in the next few days, the last vote of the 106th Congress will be cast. For those of us who will not be returning next year, that vote will mark the end of our legislative career. Mr. Speaker, 260 years ago, Samuel Johnson wrote of those ``points of time where one course of action ends and another begins,'' times when ``we are forced to say of something, `this is the last.' '' For those of us who will soon end our course as Members of Congress and begin some new endeavor, the sense of the honor it is to serve here is felt more keenly now than ever before. As I approach the point in time when I am forced to say with the vote I cast that this is the last, I wish to express my thanks to the people of the twelfth district of Florida for giving me the opportunity to serve as their representative over the last 8 years. What a great privilege it is to serve in this House and to participate in the great American enterprise of government by reflection and choice. What an awesome privilege it is to be chosen to come from the communities we represent to this House and to take on the responsibilities imposed by our oath of office: the responsibility to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; the responsibility to bear true and faithful allegiance to that Constitution; and the responsibility to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which we enter.”