Jon S. Corzine: “I would like to give what I think will more than likely be the last speech I give on this great floor, this historic…”

“I would like to give what I think will more than likely be the last speech I give on this great floor, this historic floor, in front of this deliberative body. I am grateful for your courtesies. It is with bittersweet feeling that I make these remarks. I have been honored beyond words to be a United States Senator. I think all of us know that feeling in our hearts and souls. I will be forever grateful to the 9 million New Jerseyans who put their trust in me and asked Senator Lautenberg and myself, and others before us, to represent their hopes and dreams at this time and in this place. In the 229 years of our Republic, fewer than 2,000 men and women have come to this floor and represented the voices of the people who elected them or selected them in previous times. And like each of my predecessors and those to follow, including Congressman Robert Menendez, who will be sworn in to fill out my term, we have all been sworn to uphold and protect the Constitution. I now look at the great Senator, Robert Byrd, who has so eloquently and so frequently represented the challenge that all of us take on as we are sworn in to be Senators to represent and carry forward those traditions of our Constitution and to serve the interests of our people. So there are really two purposes. I can only hope that the people of New Jersey will believe that has been my sole purpose here on this floor.…”