REPRESENTING BUSINESS ISSUES
Walden Delivers Farewell Address on House Floor December 9, 2020 | Press Release Washington, D.C. -- Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) delivered farewell remarks on the House Floor. Walden will retire from over 30 years of public service, including 22 in Congress, at the end of the 116th Congress. Walden served in the Oregon House of Representatives for six years, from 1989 to 1995, which included serving as the House Majority Leader during both 1991 and 1993 sessions. He then served in the Oregon Senate in 1995 to 1997. Walden was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden represents the people of Oregon's Second Congressional District, which includes 20 counties in central, southern, and eastern Oregon. Walden served as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the 115th Congress and currently serves as the Republican Leader of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Click HERE for part one and HERE for part two of Rep. Walden’s remarks on the House Floor.
Greg Walden (R-OR) delivering farewell speech.
As Prepared for Delivery M. Speaker. As 2020 comes to a thankful close, so does my 22 years of public service in this incredible crucible of democracy: the U.S. House. I thank my wife, Mylene, and son, Anthony, for always supporting me during my three decades of state and federal service. I will never fully understand all they sacrificed so I could fulfill my duty in office, but I know it was a lot. I also want to thank my terrific staff over the years, and especially those who helped me build and lead such successful organizations, including my personal office chiefs of staff Brian MacDonald and Lorissa Bounds; my executive directors at the NRCC, Liesl Hickey and Rob Simms; and my staff directors at the Energy and Commerce Committee, the late Ray Baum, Mike Bloomquist and Ryan Long. And I want to thank the thousands of volunteers and supporters of my many campaigns over the years. We did it together and we did it for the right reasons: to leave our state and country better than we found it. I also want to thank some important mentors in my life starting with my parents who grew up during the Great Depression and taught me the importance of giving back to the community, working hard, always being honest and not judgmental. I want to thank those along the way who gave me career opportunities, including the folks at KTVF/KFRB Fairbanks who put a 17-year-old kid in charge of producing and directing the 11pm nightly TV news. To Roger Martin, Vic Atiyeh, Gary Wilhelms, and Denny Smith, I learned so much from working for each of you. And to Speaker Larry Campbell, time and again you showed Oregon how principled leadership produces results. It was great sport serving alongside you as Majority Leader of the Oregon House. I want to thank the church, school, and scout leaders who influenced my life in such a positive way, with a special shout out to the late Earl Fowler, my high school vice principal and student body officer advisor whose counsel when I was student body president at Hood River Valley High School in 1973-74 was as valuable then as it is now. I remember he once intoned: “When there is a
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The Business Review | December 2020
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