Congresswoman Heather Wilson, First Congressional District of New Mexico
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| The People`s House |
January 04, 2001 |
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Dear Friends,
It`s cold in Washington, but it wasn`t cold in the U.S. House where the members of the 107th Congress were sworn in today. For the freshmen members and their families, it`s a very big day. Children stand next to parents on the floor of the chamber and relatives pack the balconies. There are receptions and a gala atmosphere in all of our office buildings.
The clerk called the roll that elected Denny Hastert as Speaker of the House. It took almost an hour to read through the 434 names, and that gives you time to reflect, chat with other members and think about the task at hand.
There is much to do for this Congress. We need to increase our efforts to improve our public schools so that all children can get a great education to fulfill their dreams. We need to modernize Medicare and add a prescription drug benefit to it. We need to strengthen our nation`s defense and review the threats to our vital interests and our strategy and forces needed to respond to those interests. We need to craft a national energy policy that reduces our reliance on unreliable sources of foreign oil. We need to continue to pay off the public debt and reduce the tax burden on our families while making the tax code simpler and fairer.
Despite a year that has been tough on the stock market, our economy remains fundamentally sound and we are at peace. We are a free and prosperous country, the only remaining super power that showed again in this Presidential election that we respect the rule of law and can peacefully transition from one leader to the next.
We`re called "the people`s house" on this side of our domed capitol building. It is simultaneously a collegial and raucous place, as different and as opinionated as the people we serve, where diverging interests find common ground and, collectively, work the people`s will. We are teachers and bankers, cotton farmers and internet entrepreneurs. We are disabled World War II veterans and youngsters who were not old enough to vote for Ronald Reagan. We are of all faiths and all ethnicities, trappers from Alaska and suave New York businessmen. United by a belief in this great experiment in democracy called America and committed to serve the people who sent us here.
On Saturday, we will open the electoral college votes in a joint session of the Congress and on January 20th the nation will pause as a new President raises his hand to take the same oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States that we took on Capitol Hill today.
Thanks for the honor of serving our great state. I`ll do my best.
Wish You Were Here,
Heather
p.s. For those of you who visit Washington, we have a new office. Offices are chosen by seniority and I`m now in 318 Cannon. I have a window that faces south. It`s not New Mexico sunshine, but it will have to do! |
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