Richard Gephardt: “I rise to second the thought that the Speaker just made on the floor about the bipartisan retreat that happened this…”

“I rise to second the thought that the Speaker just made on the floor about the bipartisan retreat that happened this weekend in Hershey. It was a historic event, the only time that I know that Members from both sides of the aisle and their families have had a chance to take a 2-day period to understand how we could better work together to solve the problems that we are all sworn to try to solve for the American people. I think it succeeded, if for no other reason that human relationships were established that had not been established before. There has been tremendous turnover in the House. We have many, many new Members who do not know one another, and certainly older Members who do not know younger Members who have come in the last few years. I think those relationships were begun. David McCullough, the noted historian, gave a speech on the first afternoon that we arrived in Hershey that I will never forget, and I urge all Members to get a copy of the speech and read it. He reminded us of how difficult it was in the early history of the Congress to work together, how many times altercations broke out between Members, how difficult it was to find consensus, and how negative people were about the future of the Congress and the country. We have come a long way; we have a long way to go. Hershey is a beginning.…”