{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2012-12-31-pt1-PgH7473-3", "2012-12-31", 112, 2, null, null, "A TIME OF PERSONAL REFLECTION", "HOUSE", "HOUSE", "ALLOTHER", "H7473", "H7474", "[{\"name\": \"Russ Carnahan\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "158 Cong. Rec. H7473", "Congressional Record, Volume 158 Issue 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)]\n[House]\n[Pages H7473-H7474]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                     A TIME OF PERSONAL REFLECTION\n\n  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from\nMissouri (Mr. Carnahan) for 5 minutes.\n  Mr. CARNAHAN. On this last day of the year and on one of the last\ndays of this 112th Congress, we are awaiting a fiscal deal that will\nstrengthen the fiscal health of this country. I want to take a few\nmoments to reflect on my service here in the House of Representatives\nand to personally thank many who helped me get here and to do the work\nof the people whom I represent and love in the State of Missouri.\n  First, Mr. Speaker, Debra Carnahan, my wife but also an accomplished\nattorney, a former State and Federal prosecutor. She's really been the\nrock of our family and has been with me through the great highs and\ntough lows of this job. So I want to thank her.\n  Also, our two great sons--Austin and Andrew--who have shared me with\nthousands of constituents for several years. They have grown into\namazing young men, young men who I think will, in their own rights,\nmake a difference as they work their way through their lives.\n  Mr. Speaker, I want to also thank some of my amazing staff who are\ntoo numerous to name--dozens over many years--but there are four in\nparticular who worked with me through the entire 8 years that I served\nin this Congress: Jeremy Haldeman, who has\n\n[[Page H7474]]\n\nstaffed the Foreign Affairs Committee for me and the Oversight\nSubcommittee, and who has also been my chief of staff in the Washington\noffice; Jim McHugh, who has been my district director and longtime\nfriend and colleague in St. Louis; Suzanne Archer, who has been my\ndeputy director; and Kathy Waltz from Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, a\nformer mayor there but an invaluable part of our constituent outreach\nteam. There are many other staff members, but I thank those in\nparticular for their long and loyal service and for the difference they\nmake in so many people's lives.\n\n  To the Missourians whom I've had the great honor to represent, I am\ngratified and humbled beyond belief to have been able to represent them\nin this U.S. House of Representatives for 8 years and to also have\nrepresented many in the State house of representatives for 4 years\nprior to that. In working with them and for them we've been able to get\nsome great things done on big national issues but also on important\nlocal issues back home.\n  From ribbon cuttings and orange cones and construction signs all\nacross the St. Louis region to investments in our infrastructure, which\nhave created real jobs at home and have helped rebuild our region's\nroads, bridges, ports, lochs, dams, levees, flood walls, airports,\nhigh-speed rail, light rail, and our bus systems, those have made a\nreal difference in people's lives. It was the reason I got on the\nTransportation Committee in the first place. We had two of the most\ndeadly roads in America in Jefferson County, Missouri, and we got\nspecial funding to help rebuild those roads--to not only help their\neconomy but to save lives. Recently, our firefighters were able to\nobtain a Federal grant for special patrol boats-rescue boats on the\nMississippi River, which will serve the region for years to come.\n  These kinds of investments are important, and I want to urge this new\nCongress that will be taking over in just a few days to pass a major\ntransportation bill. It's one of the best investments we can make in\nthis country in order to continue to grow this economy.\n  We've seen after growing out of this Great Recession over the last\nfew years the Recovery Act passed, the auto industry saved, major Wall\nStreet reforms passed, health care reform passed, and stem cell\nresearch measures adopted in unprecedented bipartisan ways. I'll never\nforget the mothers with their young children who were sitting in my\noffice the day that the health care bill was approved. There was not a\ndry eye in the room because all of their kids had preexisting\nconditions. Because of the new health care law, that cannot be the case\nanymore. I was also proud to serve on our House Foreign Affairs\nCommittee and to chair the international organization's committee, so I\njust want to urge this Congress to take on the needed reforms to make\nthis Congress work better for the American people.\n  In closing, we recently greeted World War II veterans here at the\nmonument built in their honor. They said that this Congress needed to\ntake on the spirit they had in World War II--to put the country first\nand to put our differences aside--and that we could achieve great\nthings.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2012-12-31-pt1-PgH7473-3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.4721019649878144, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}