without objection sorted.

Mr. Speaker, this may be the last time I speak on the House floor.

At the end of the year, I'll leave Congress after 23 years in office

over a 36-year period.

My goals in 1976 were the same as they are today,

promote peace and prosperity by restricted adherents

to the principles of individual liberty.

It was my opinion that the course of the U.S.

embarked on in the latter part of the 20th century

would bring us a major financial crisis

and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend us

and undermine our national security.

To achieve these goals I sought,

the government would have had to shrink in size and scope,

reduce spending, change the monetary system,

and reject the unsustainable costs of policing the world

and expanding the American empire.

The problems seemed to be overwhelming and impossible to solve,

yet from my viewpoint,

just following the constraints placed on the federal government

by the Constitution would have been a good place to start.

Just how much did I accomplish?

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