On the recordDecember 14, 2022
Mr. President, I rise today in the time-honored tradition of giving my farewell remarks to the United States Senate. This is an opportunity to thank my friends, my colleagues, and the voters of North Carolina who have supported me for 28 years, through 8 elections, for the opportunity to serve and the ability to make a difference for my State and my country. Thirty years ago, I was a businessman with a happy family in Winston- Salem, NC, who decided things in Washington, DC, weren't working exactly right. So I decided to run for Congress in an effort to help make that change for the better. My reason for running was a concern of the future for my two young sons and others of their generation. I lost that first race for the House in 1992, and I took it in stride thinking, I have done my best shot. It was meant to be. I am not a politician. I had never run for office before or been involved in politics except to vote. But by 1994, as Congress was still raising taxes and increasing the deficit at the same time, I decided I had to try again to bring some common sense to how things were being decided in our Nation's Capital. So I threw my hat in the ring again, and I was elected to the House of Representatives. I was surrounded by 73 other new Members, with a new majority, and an opportunity to make new friends. I met three people who are now some of my closest friends: John Boehner, Saxby Chambliss, and Tom Latham. Brooke and I are blessed with their friendship.…





