Test. Test test. Test. Test test. Test. Test test. Test. Test test. Test it was a true honor of my life to serve on the committee. And as has been mentioned, great luminaries of our history have served there, daniel iel webste and others. I am on the road right now with two former trade Staff Members from the finance committee. Yall will remember, i know, Angela Hoffman and Carrie Phillips clark, who have shrink wrapped a motor home and are traveling across the country. So i get to pop in every now and then, have a glass of wine and go out and talk about farmers for free trade and it is a ton of fun. This fun doesnt stop here, particularly when you work hard with staff. It makes a big difference, and they still have the same passions just as don and i know when we leave the senate we still have passions. It has been a great opportunity for me. To read the history of the Senate Finance committee is to read the history of our country, the battles over tariffs, the National Banks of jackson ha was mentioned earlier, income tax, social security, medicare, those battles were fought in the committee. I remember the battles we fought, whether it was the Affordable Care act, whether it was taxes. When i came to the senate in 1998, i was elected, i was 38 years old. I had twin 2year olds. I came to the committee, and it was a little bit different there. As we fought those battles, there were many of them and i frequently had Peanut Butter and jelly on my lapel, sleepless nights, and occasionally my twins were up in my office because they were either sick or it was a snow day and they were out of school. One of those days happened to be a day that we were doing welfare reform, and Chuck Grassley was in the chair. We were talking about child care, and the democrats wanted to spend way too much money and the republicans were like, no, we cant spend any money. So i was just sitting there thinking, oh, my gosh, my kids are up in my office, i dont know what theyre doing, you know, it is crazy out there. I looked over and everybody started talking, and then somebody said something like, i dont know, maybe cant their grandparents take care of them . And Chuck Grassley looked me in the eye, you looked me in the eye and i looked up, and i was like, whoa. He looked over at the republicans and said, guys, i think we better let her talk because i think her tea pot is about to pop. You know, it was wonderful to be able to talk and to come to a conclusion where we actually did increase the funding for child care in the welfare reform bill. Not as much as the democrats wanted, but a little bit more than the republicans wanted and probably somewhere in the middle of where we needed to be. That was because we were working together. We were trying to figure it out. We were learning from each other and talking about what that really meant to our constituents. Theres also, just to say, theres been nine women who have served on the finance committee. The first, who i had never heard of before but thanks to the Historical Society i discovered, was hazel abel of nebraska. She was appointed and served for the last three days. She got three days on the committee, of the 1983rd congress in 1952. The second woman to serve on the Senate Finance committee and the first to do so substantively was Carol Moseley brawn of illinois who served on the committee in the 204th and 205th congresses. Then guess what . Then came the gals from arkansas and maine of the 107th congress. It was olympia snow and myself, and i could not have asked for a more wonderful partner in the committee as a female, olympia snow. She was just phenomenal to work with, hardworking, thorough, and really anxious to do good, and that made a difference. Now since owe limb olympia is and we were in the majority when it happened, im going to say i am the third woman on the committee, olympia will be the fourth. Today theres been nine members out of 372 members of the Senate Finance committee there. Are four on the committee today tying the record of the 111th congress. Theyre all democrats, unfortunately. We got to get some republican women on there. With a little over 12 years under their belts, senator cantwell and senator stabenow are the longest serving on the committee. Im grateful to them for all that they have done and continue to do. But i would like to say that when i think about what don and i have said about the committee work, it is the place where you realize how our government was founded. It was founded on trying to find consensus. It is looking at issues and things that affect our families and our home states in a way that need to be fixed and finding the consensus thats going to do it. But i also have found that under the committee system, one of the greatest things that comes out of your time there is the friendship. It is where you get to work with other members and you become friends. You see less of your differences and more of the things that you believe in together. Pat robertson sat on the other side of the dais from me in the Senate Finance committee and i will never forget, he probably doesnt remember this. One day, im sure i looked battered and probably had Peanut Butter and juelly on my shoulde again, you sent a note to me. It was very cute. I must have been dozing off a bit because i pat sent me a note and he said, if you raise your feet off the floor it will keep you awake. I wrote him back a note that said, pat, in these chairs my feet dont touch the ground. So the friendships were built. It was also the things that you learned, not only in the substantive part of it but in that friendship. I dont know if Chuck Grassley remembers this, but one of the best things i learned in the congress, i had a bill on the floor it wasnt a bill, it was an amendment. I have been raised with a lot of things. My grandmothers rule of law was theres never, ever a good excuse to be rude or dangerous to yourself or to anyone else. The other part of her rule of law was all anybody can say is no, but they cant say no if you dont ask. I knew it was going to be a close vote, and i went to chuck. I said, chuck, i need you to help me on this, i really wish you would, it is not a big deal, i think it can be helpful to you in iowa, and i just hope you will consider it. And i bugged him again, and then he said, okay, i tell you what, he says, if it comes down to one vote that you need, he said, ill be with you. Guess what. It came down to one vote. You did. You voted with me. I was so proud. I dont think you ever knew how proud i was at that moment because i saw in the United States senate the kind of integrity and the kind of person that was standing behind their word that they had given to me, and it made me feel so incredible. So i went over there. It is like several days later and i went over, and he was wearing this really pretty red vest. I went up and i said, chuck, you sure look handsome in that red vest, i have to give you a head and i cant thank you enough for voting for me in my amendment i had. I gave him a hug and he said, dont do that, those other women will come over and hug me. But the point being is that this country belongs to all of us and we all have good ideas and we all work hard to make a difference. In a Committee Like the Senate Finance committee, you can make that difference. And when you reach out and you work with people, it does make a difference because you solve problems. As russ sullivan, who i see has moved in here from arkansas will attest to, i did truly believe in my grandmothers saying, which was all they can say is no, but they cant say no if you dont ask, because the last time i went and asked for another amendment he looked at me and set, youve already gotten about ten. No more. Youre cut off. Thank you all for letting me, my former colleagues and current colleagues and everybody else, having that opportunity as a young woman, a young mother, with a husband that was working like crazy to keep our head above water, an opportunity to see what the real United States senate is really about. So at the Senate Finance committee, hear, hear. Thats what it was. Senator nickles, come back here for a quick minute. You got to get your present, you know. One of the things that is we have at the capital Historical Society is we have very special merchandise that has special relationship to the capital. So this for you, senator, is a replica of the capital made from marble that is from the capital. Here you go. Open it. Okay. How about that . Thank you. And for you, senator lincoln. A tie . No. We have a scarf that is made to represent the bermuni corridor. Thats lovely. Thank you. We see you are a scarf person. I need to spruce it up every now and then. Now you will be able to spruce it up. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Thats very nice. Thank you. And, of course, we dont just give prizes to the folks who have gone from the senate. Senator wyden, senator grassley, please come. It is whatever you want it to be. Great. This is a replica, also made from the marble from the capital of the statue of freedom that stands on top of the capital. When senator nickles talked about the Capitol Building, the Capitol Building is across the world the symbol of our democracy, and standing on top of that is the statue of freedom. If you go on one of steves tours, you will hear the whole story about the discussion about when they were building, who should be on the top. Because our democracy was different. It was a revolutionary idea. At that time every other country had a king or something, and so who would go on the top . You know, there were some people who said, oh, George Washington should go on top. People said, no, no, no, because we dont want it to be an individual. We want it to be a symbol, lady freedom. That is who is on the top, and we give that to you and thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. For all of you who have come to make this possible, theres one group of people that we havent acknowledged and that is the staff of the Historical Society. Laura, steve, stand up thank you. Thank you very much. The beverages are still here, so you may enjoy one another, and our photographer has a few photos to take. Thank you so much. All week were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Lectures in history, american artifacts, reel america, the civil war, oral histories, the presidency, and special event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan3. In 1979 a Small Network with an unusual name rolled out a big idea. Let viewers make up their own minds. Cspan opened the doors to washington policy making for all to see, bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. A lot has changed in 40 years, but today that big idea is more relevant than ever. On television and online, cspan is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. Brought to you as a Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. American history tv continues now with the discussion on james polks views on federal mining, land policies, the environment and religion. This talk was part of a Conference Marking the completion of a 60year project to assemble and edit president polks papers. Held at the university of tennessee, this is an hour and a half. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our session entitled land, to hasovereigty and reli im dan howe and i was delighted to be invited to chair this session with its great diversity of content. You should know at the ou