Outgoing Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) used his final speech on the House floor to rip into the “scoundrels, crooks, [and] liars” in Congress.
Ryan, who lost a Senate bid last month to Republican J.D. Vance, began his farewell speech by reciting the preamble of the Constitution, then discussed the variety of people who have served in Congress.
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“There have been some great Americans. Some of the best have served in this chamber. But there have also been scoundrels, crooks, liars. This is the People’s House. So it has reflected that in 250 years, in the world’s oldest republic,” Ryan said.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent the people of Northeast Ohio in Congress.
As we move forward, we must come together with a renewed commitment to building a better America. pic.twitter.com/h3DJmFo9yZ
— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) December 15, 2022
The Ohio Democrat also called for gratitude and compassion amid increased polarization, discussing how “this country has always done great things.”
“I think that we get out of this mess that we’re in, the polarization, the hate, the anger, the fear — the first step out of that is with gratitude. If we all start from a place of gratitude, we will have a much different opinion of the country, of each other, and of what’s possible for us because this country has always done great things, but we do great things when we’re together, when we embrace normalcy, when we embrace decency, when we embrace compassion,” Ryan said.
Ryan also said various systems are broken and called on Congress to work to fix the many problems within those systems by working together.
“The systems are all broken — the economic system is broken, the immigration system is broken, the welfare system is broken, the education system is broken. We’re not going to fix these problems if we’re not decent to each other, if we don’t talk to each other,” Ryan said.
He continued, “Some of the solutions will be conservative; some will be liberal and progressive. But it’s through that conflict, those arguments and debates that this very chamber was set up to do, that we come to the best possible solution.”
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The outgoing congressman was first elected in 2002, serving 20 years in the lower chamber of Congress and mounting an unsuccessful bid for president in 2020 as well as for Senate in 2022.
