Byron Dorgan: “I must say that it is interesting when we involve ourselves in aggressive and controversial debates that we find from…”

“I must say that it is interesting when we involve ourselves in aggressive and controversial debates that we find from time to time we disagree with colleagues for whom we have the greatest respect. That is certainly the case with me for the Senator from Utah. He is one of the best Members of the U.S. Senate, and I have been privileged to work with him on a lot of things. And, yet, I profoundly disagree with him on this issue. I want to spend a bit of time explaining why that is the case. In September 1796, George Washington announced that he was retiring after some 45 years of service. I want to read just a paragraph from his Farewell Address, which is read each year here in this Chamber. George Washington wrote: This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. George Washington was right about that.”