Wrapping up a long career on Capitol Hill, Michigan’s U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow gave her farewell address in Washington D.C. Wednesday
Here’s the text of the speech:
Today is bittersweet for me, standing here on the floor of the United States Senate making my last major speech.
So many of my staff from Michigan have traveled to be here as well as staff members who have worked for me in DC over the years. I am truly overwhelmed that over 100 Michigan and DC staff are here in the gallery today.
And family and friends who are not able to fly in today are watching on C-SPAN.
As we come back from Thanksgiving, I am filled with so much gratitude and respect as I think back over my years of public service.
I am thinking about the incredible number of people who have supported me and contributed in so many ways to my success—from my family, my staff, my colleagues and of course, the people of Michigan who have put their trust in me over these past fifty years, from Ingham County Commissioner to state legislator to US Senator.
Michigan, you will always have my heart.
Today is about recognizing all of you.
As some of you know, I lost my mom just over a week ago. I suspect she’s tuning in to heaven’s version of CSPAN right now watching me, just as she has always been watching and supporting me my whole life.
Mom not only lived a long life—98 years—but a rich and meaningful one. Her hard work, kindness, strength and loyalty were a true gift to me, my brothers, my children and my whole family.
There are always unsung heroes of every story.
In my story, it is my wonderful family—my son Todd, my daughter Michelle, my daughter-in-law Sara, and son-in-law Scott, and my five incredibly talented and amazing grandchildren, Ari, Willow, Avery, Everett and Violet.
My mom and my kids have all appeared in many campaign ads over the years.
Even my brothers, Lynn and Lee, starred in an acclaimed closing ad when I beat a Republican incumbent to first be elected to the U.S. House.
When my kids were young, they too broke down barriers—Todd was born when I was a county commissioner and Michelle was born when I was a state representative.
Not only was it unusual for a woman to be elected as a state legislator, it was a first in Michigan for a legislator to be pregnant and have a baby while in office!
I remember a very pregnant me opening baby shower gifts in one of the State House committee rooms! (Most of my male colleagues didn’t know what to buy for a baby shower…So I got a lot of stuffed animals!)
My family members have marched in countless parades, attended thousands of events with me and planned birthdays and holidays around the legislative calendar.
They have sacrificed their time and, in many cases, their personal privacy and through thick and thin, have always been there for me. I am incredibly grateful.
I love you all so much.
My family story has inspired my work as an elected official.
I grew up in Clare, Michigan where my mom was Director of Nursing at our small rural hospital. This sparked my life-long interest in health care.
As a 24-year-old grad student at Michigan State University, I led an effort to save Ingham County’s Medical Care Facility from closure, the only nursing home that served low-income seniors at the time.
I had never been involved in politics before, but I knew it was wrong to close this facility.
We stopped the Ingham County Board of Commissioners from closing this critical service, and I was encouraged to run for County Commission because I lived in the district of the commissioner trying to close the nursing home.
He called me that young broad… And the young broad beat him…And as they say, the rest is “herstory.”
Health care remained a top priority for me from those early days forward. Today, I am proud and grateful that more people in America have access to home health care, hospice services and lower prescription drug prices because of my work.
Medicare, Medicaid and community health centers provide a stronger foundation for care for millions of Americans.
And we have made significant strides forward in finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and supporting caregivers.
I was a new member of the Senate Finance Committee when President Obama made health care reform his top priority. I was excited to be involved in every part of passing the Affordable Care Act, making sure that maternity care, mental health services, and addiction treatment were part of the new law.
I spent a tremendous amount of time focused on the affordability of the new health care system and was successful in bringing down the amount that individuals would have to pay for coverage.
I considered it a badge of honor during the final vote in committee when then Chairman Baucus turned to me and said, “here we have Senator Affordability.”
My first viral moment as an elected official on social media happened during the debate on the Affordable Care Act when Senator Kyl from Arizona argued against including maternity care as basic coverage by stating that he “did not need maternity care.”
I told him that “his mom probably did.” The public outcry after that helped ensure that to this day, maternity care is covered under the Affordable Care Act.
There has been no health care issue more profoundly influenced by my own family’s story and life experience than the issue of mental health.
My father had a bipolar disorder that went undiagnosed for many years. Our lives were changed when the drug lithium became available and my dad had the support he needed to manage his disease and move forward with his life.
I saw what happened when someone did not get the help they needed, and what happened when they did.
This experience fueled my passion to reduce the stigma of mental illness and as I often say, “treat health care above the neck the same as health care below the neck.”
I worked on this issue in the early days of my career chairing the Mental Health Committee in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Later, I was honored to team up with Senator Roy Blunt for a 10-year effort to transform how we fund mental health and addiction services. This has been my passion and my most meaningful achievement.
On the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy signing the Community Mental Health Act (the last bill he signed), Senator Blunt and I introduced and spoke here on the Senate floor about our new legislation, the Excellence in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Act.
President Kennedy envisioned a world where people would not be housed inappropriately in asylums, but would get the treatment and care they needed in their community.
The first part of his vision was implemented over the past 50 years. Mental hospitals were closed. But the second half of it, creating comprehensive community care, never happened.
Senator Blunt and I worked intensely over the past 10 years to make the second half of President Kennedy’s vision a reality by creating comprehensive community behavioral health clinics, or CCBHCs where clinics are funded as healthcare, not just through grants that start and stop.
Now, because of our bipartisan efforts, culminating in full funding in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, we are in the midst of creating comprehensive community-based care across the country. And I thank so many of you for your help and support in making this happen.
More than 500 community behavioral health clinics are providing services across the country right now, with more being created every day.
Millions of people now have the dignity of receiving mental health care and addiction treatment in their community instead of sitting in an emergency room or a jail, or sleeping on the street. The goal, of course, is to have every community in every state provide these critical healthcare services.
I intend to continue to do everything I can to support your bipartisan efforts to make sure this transformation is completed.
I am forever grateful to the people of Michigan for the trust they have shown me all these years. I’ve lived in Michigan my whole life, and viewed my work in DC as a weekly commute.
I see everything through the eyes of Michiganders and our beautiful state.
Our Great Lakes and our water are part of our Michigan DNA. Protecting our water has been my passion—from passing my very first bill in the Senate which bans oil and gas drilling in our Great Lakes to authoring the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. This landmark initiative has helped transform the health of our lakes and watersheds and will continue to do so into the future.
Looking through the lens of Michigan again, I’ve understood that we don’t have a strong economy unless we make things and grow things. For this reason, I’ve been a member of the agriculture committee at every level of government where I’ve served …both state and federal. And I’ve been deeply involved in efforts to protect and expand American manufacturing, including the new clean energy revolution occurring in our country.
It has been a privilege to put my stamp on our nation’s farm and food policy. I have frequently said that you can see Michigan on every page of the Farm Bills I have written. As the author of the specialty crop title in the Farm Bill, I’m grateful that the full diversity of farms, both small and large, are now reflected in our funding and agriculture policies.
I am so pleased that families across our country have access to healthy, locally grown foods through farmers markets and urban agriculture and our children can count on permanent funding for summer meals and other critical food assistance.
I like to say that I suit up every day to fight for Michigan. There is no truer statement than my work on behalf of Michigan workers and Michigan manufacturing.
I was proud to champion the auto rescue in 2009, change tax incentives to invest and make things here in America, and toughen our laws in support of American manufacturing. I know we have the best workers in the world and that Michigan manufacturing is well-positioned to prosper in the future.
I want to take a moment and of course, thank all of you…my great colleagues on both sides of the aisle…both past and present. So many of you have been wonderful partners in getting things done. And I am so grateful for your friendship.
I am especially grateful for my Michigan partners, first, the amazing Carl Levin and now my dear friend Gary Peters. I like to say we are the one-two punch for Michigan.
As we all know, to be effective, it’s not necessary to agree with someone on everything. In fact I don’t agree with anyone on everything!
It’s only necessary to agree on one thing…one problem that needs to be solved….and then, agree on a way to address that one thing.
Then we look for another colleague across the aisle to work with on one thing. That’s how positive change happens.
We all realize with all of the incredible demands on our time and the constant additions and changes to our schedules, it’s hard to find the time we would like to get to know each other on a personal level.
That’s why things like our bipartisan women Senators dinners over the years, our international travel, or playing Christmas carols on the piano at the prayer breakfast have meant so much to me.
Exchanging stories about our families, our faith and our personal challenges have made a real difference.
It has been a great honor to serve as a member of Senate Democratic leadership since 2005.
I want to recognize Democratic leaders Tom Daschle and Harry Reid, who were so supportive of me.
And I want to thank my great friend, Senator Chuck Schumer, and his extraordinary team.
Chuck loves the United States Senate and our country in every bone of his body and I am so appreciative of his leadership, tireless hard work and friendship.
When I announced my retirement nearly two years ago, I said I was ready to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders.
I couldn’t be prouder to pass the torch to Michigan’s new Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin. I know she has the heart and talent for this job and will do great things for our state and our country.
I have thought long and hard about how to express my gratitude to the smartest, most hard-working staff that I could ever have imagined. Truly, my success comes from all of their amazing efforts.
Over 500 bright and talented professional staff have worked for me over the past 50 years.
Many of them for decades. And that doesn’t include countless volunteers and interns.
I want you to know how moved I am that so many of you took the time to be here today or are tuning in to watch.
You are much more than employees. You are family.
I have watched many of you get married (several times thanks to our office) and watched your children grow up. You are truly my dear friends.
You have raised the bar for the kind of service the people of Michigan should expect from their elected officials.
You have been there for me personally through the best of times and through the rough patches.
You have cared and persisted, and together we have achieved so much…whether it’s policy changes or helping literally millions of Michiganders cut through the bureaucracy and solve a personal problem.
I salute each and every one of you and thank you for your service to Michigan and our nation. I am passing the torch to you too, because I know you will continue to care about people and public service…and do great things. I could not have done this without you.
As I close, I want to acknowledge the importance of the moment we are in as a country. We all know there is great division promoted in large part, by those who want to weaken America to gain their own power.
Yet we all have so much in common. We all love our children and want the same things for them to be successful. We all want safe communities and a chance to be rewarded for our hard work.
We can heal the divide and work together if we just look for that one thing we can agree on to make our lives better and get it done. And then we can look again for that one thing.
If we don’t let the haters divide us, we can rebuild trust with one another and be the America we want to be.
That is my hope and my prayer for all of us.
As I begin this next chapter in my life, my heart is filled with gratitude.
To my family, my colleagues, my staff and to the great people of the State of Michigan.
Thank you, one and all, from the bottom of my heart.
It has been my honor to serve you.
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