Helen Chenoweth-Hage: “I am here to talk about the experience that one very average American citizen has had over the course of the past 6…”

“I am here to talk about the experience that one very average American citizen has had over the course of the past 6 years in being a part of what has been termed the greatest deliberative body on earth: The United States Congress. And although people call me Congressman, or sometimes Congresswoman, I am very much simply an average American citizen, an American citizen who took leave from her ordinary, average American life to serve for a time as an advocate for over half a million people in a State 2,000 miles away. And that can only happen in America. Now, after serving here for 3 terms, I am fulfilling a pledge that I made in 1994, and I am leaving this body of my own will, returning to a life of an average American citizen to live under the laws that I hope that we have made a little bit better here. I want to share with my colleagues and for the record some of my observations about this great government of ours, the daunting responsibilities we hold here, and my hope for the future.”