Betty Sutton: “Trust is a fragile thing. It is difficult to win, but easy to lose. It finds its hold on promises kept and honesty…”

“Trust is a fragile thing. It is difficult to win, but easy to lose. It finds its hold on promises kept and honesty sustained and unquestionable integrity. As the representative of the 13th District of Ohio, I am honored to rise on this historic day to speak for the first time on the floor of the people's House. And in so rising, I am proud that I do so to keep the faith with the people who sent me here to serve. With our actions today, on this first day of the reform Congress, we begin to fulfill the awesome responsibility entrusted to us by the American people. We have heard the call for change and it shall be heeded. Today, we sever the links between those who would buy influence on Capitol Hill and those who would willingly sell it. We act to clean up the corruption which has eroded the public trust and resulted in far too many policies that benefit the well connected and the privileged few, at the expense of the greater good. Title II of our rules package does just this. We end the K Street Project, which took peddling of access and influence to soaring new heights. We act to eradicate the cronyism and corruption. We cut off the gifts, the perks and travel wielded by special interests. We take the darkest inner workings of government and sanitize them with the light of day.”