wherever you get your podcasts. >> house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of celebrating -- of covering congress. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policies are debated and decided, with the support of america's cable companies. c-span. 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> former connecticut senator and vice presidential candidate joe lieberman died yesterday at the age of 82. he was the first jewish-american to be nominated on either major parties ticket, alongside al gore in two thousand. in 2000 six he won reelection as an independent after losing the

democratic primary. in 2011 senator lieberman announced he would not run for reelection. he gave a farewell address in december 2012. be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, my fourth and final term as united states senator will soon come to an end. as i reflect on that reality, i am of course filled with many emotions, but the one that i feel most is gratitude. gratitude first to god, creator of life and law, whose -- without whose loving kindness nothing would be possible. gratitude to america, this extraordinary land of opportunity which has given someone like me so many opportunities. gratitude to the people of connecticut who have entrusted me with the privilege of public service for 40 years, the last 24 in the united states senate.

gratitude to my senate colleagues whom i've come to know as friends and with whom it has been such an honor to serve. gratitude to all the people without whose help, hard work and support i never would have made it to the senate or stayed here. the gifted and hardworking staff in connecticut and washington who supported, informed and enriched my service here, and the volunteers in my campaigns who gave so much and asked for nothing in return except that i do what i believe was right. gratitude to all those who labor out of view in the corridors of this capitol building, from the maintenance crews to the capitol police and everybody else anywhere in this building, thank you for keeping our capitol running and keeping us safe. and gratitude, most of all, of course, to my family for the love, support and inspiration

they have given me every day of my life. my parents, grandparents and siblings, my children and grandchildren, and hadassah, my wife of almost 30 years now, the love of my life who has been my constant companion, supporter and partner through this amazing adventure. and so i want to begin this farewell speech by simply saying thank you all. i have a lot to be grateful for. but, mr. president, being a senator -- and since this is my farewell speech, i do have a few more things i'd like to say. i am leaving the senate at a moment in our history when america faces daunting challenges, both domestic and foreign, and when too often our problems seem greater than our government's ability to solve them. but i can tell you that i remain

deeply optimistic about america's future and constantly inspired by the special destiny that i'm convinced is ours as americans. my optimism is based not in theory or hope but in american history and in personal experience. i think particularly about my time in public life and especially the changes that i have witnessed since i took the oath of office as a senator on january 3, 1989. the fact is that over the past quarter century, america and the world have become freer and more prosperous. the iron curtain was peacefully torn down, and the soviet empire defeated. the eternal values of freedom and opportunity on which america was founded and for which we still stand have made global gains that were once unimaginable. we have seen the spread of

democracy from central europe to southeast asia and from latin america to the middle east. hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in places like china, india and just about every other corner of the globe. and technological advances have transformed almost every aspect of our daily lives. when i started here in the senate, a blackberry was a fruit and tweeting was something only birds did. no more. none of these extraordinary developments happened by accident. in fact, to a significant degree, i would say they were made possible by the principled leadership of the united states, by the global economy and international system that america created with our diplomacy and protected with our military, and by the unique culture of freedom, innovation and entrepreneurship that

flourishes in our country and that remains the model and inspiration for the rest of the modernizing world. we have every reason to be proud of the progress of humanity that has happened on america's watch. and here at home to be grateful for the countless ways in which our own country has been benefited in the process. we live in a world whose shape and trajectory the united states more than any other nation is responsible for. it's not a perfect world, i know that, but it is a better world than the one we inherited, and in my opinion, it is actually in so many ways a better world than has ever existed before. here at home over the past quarter century, we have moved closer to the more perfect union our founders sought, becoming a more free and open society in

ways i would guess those same founders never could have imagined. barriers of discrimination and bigotry that just a few decades ago seemed immovable have been broken and doors of opportunity have been opened wider for all americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or disability. during my time here in washington, we have had our first female secretary of state nominated and confirmed and our first african-american president elected and re-elected. it will forever remain one of my deepest honors that thanks to vice president gore i was given the opportunity to be the first jewish american nominated by a major political party for national office. and incidentally, thanks to the american people, grateful to have received a half million more votes than my opponent on the other side, but that's a

longer story. so while there is still much work to do and many problems to be solved, i believe we can and should approach our future with a confidence that is based on the real and substantial progress we have made together. what's required now is to solve the urgent problems we still have, and what's really required to do that is leadership, leadership of the kind that's never easy or common but which we as americans know we can summon in times of need because we have summoned it before. today i regret to say as i leave the senate that the greatest obstacle that i see standing between us and the brighter american future we all want is right here in washington. it's the partisan polarization of our politics which prevents us from making the principled

compromises on which progress in a democracy depends, and right now which prevents us from restoring our fiscal solvency as a nation. we need bipartisan leadership to break the gridlock in washington that will unleash all the potential that is in the american people. and so i would respectfully make this appeal to my colleagues, especially the 12 new senators who will take the oath of office for the first time next month. i know how hard each of you has worked to get elected to the united states senate. and i know that you work so hard because you wanted to come here to make a difference for the better. there is no magic or mystery about the way to do so in the u.s. senate. it requires reaching across the aisle and finding partners from the opposite party.

it means ultimately putting the interests of country and constituents ahead of the dictates of party and ideology. when i look back at my own career, the legislative achievements i'm proudest to have been part of, like passing the clean air act in 1990, stopping the genocide in the balkans, creating the 9/11 commission and the department of homeland security, reforming the intelligence community, reorganizing fema and refeeling don't ask, don't tell, all were achieved only because a critical mass of democrats and republicans found common ground. and that is what is desperately needed in washington now to solve our nation's biggest problems and address our biggest challenges before they become crises or catastrophes. our future also depends on our

nation continuing to exercise another kind of leadership, and that is leadership beyond our borders. this, too, has never been easy or popular. americans have rarely been eager to entangle ourselves abroad, especially at times when we have faced economic difficulties at home as we do now, there has been the temptation to turn inward, to tell ourselves that the problems of the world are not our responsibility or that we cannot afford to do anything about them. in fact, the prosperity, security and freedom of the american people depend more than ever before on what's happening in the rest of the world, and so, too, does the rest of the world depend especially on us. i know we can't solve all of the planet's problems by ourselves nor should we try, but the fact is that none of the biggest problems facing the world can or will be solved in the absence of

american leadership, and here, too, i appeal to my senate colleagues, and again especially those who will take the oath of office for the first time early in january. do not listen to the political consultants or others who tell you that you shouldn't spend time on foreign affairs or national security. they're wrong. the american people need us, the senate, to stay engaged economically, diplomatically and militarily in an ever smaller world. do not underestimate the impact you could have by getting involved in matters of foreign policy and national security. whether by using your voice to stand in solidarity with those who are struggling for the american ideal of freedom in their own countries across the globe or working to strengthen the foreign policy and national security institutions of our own country or by rallying our

citizens to embrace the role that we as a country must play on the world stage as both our interests and our values demand. none of the challenges we face today in a still dangerous world is beyond our ability to meet. just as we ended the ethnic cleansing in the balkans, we can stop the slaughter in syria. just as we nurtured the democratic transitions after communism fell in central and eastern europe, we can support the forces of freedom in the middle east today. and just as we were able to prevail in the long struggle against the soviet union during the cold war, we can prevail in the global conflict with islamist extremism and terrorism that we were forced into by the terrorist attacks of september 11, 2001. but all that, too, will require leadership in the united states senate. it will require leaders who will

stand against the siren song of isolationism, who will defend our defense and foreign assistance budgets, who will support, when necessary, the use of america's military power against our enemies in the world and who will have the patience and determination when the public grows weary to see our battles through until they are won. mr. president, i first set foot in this chamber almost exactly 50 years ago, in the summer of 1963. enfired like so many of my generation by president john f. kennedy and his call to service. i spent that summer right here in the senate as an intern for my home state senator, abe ribakov. he was and remains a personal hero of mine. and although i never would have

admitted so publicly back then because it was so presumptuous, i came away from that experience with the dream that i might someday, somehow return to serve in this place. well, i have been blessed to live that dream, and that is what america is all about. we have always been a nation of dreamers whose destiny is determined only by the bounds of our own imagination and by our willingness to work hard to realize what we have imagined. indeed, long before the united states came into being as a government of institutions and laws, it was a dream, a dream, an an implausible and animated dream of a country not defined by its borders or its rulers or the ethnicity of its founders but by a set of eternal and universal principles that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are god's endowment to each of us.

that was the dream that gave us our existence and our purpose as a nation, and it is the dream that for more than 200 years, through every passing generation, has been reinventing, renewing, enthralling and surprising us, the very dreamers who are living that dream. i leave this chamber as full of faith in the dream called america as when i stood here nearly a quarter of a century ago to take the oath of office for the first time. and as when i first came here nearly a half century ago as a 21-year-old, the grandchild of four immigrants to america, the son of wonderful parents who never had the opportunity even to go to college but made sure that my sisters and i did and gave us the confidence to pursue our dreams which was their american dream for us.

america remains a land of dreams and a nation of dreamers. i know that my own story repeats itself today in millions of american families and their children, and as long as that is so, i know that our best days as a country are still ahead of us. and so, mr. president, i will end my remarks today where our country began a long time ago -- with a dream and a prayer that god will continue to bless the united states >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are sponsored by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? no, it is way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with community centers so students from low income families can get the tools they need to be ready

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that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these point of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of the screen when you hit play on select videos. this tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> the u.s. supreme court heard oral argument in nra v. vullo, a case on whether a former new york regulator violated the national rifle association's free speech rights by threatening companies that do business with them. maria vullo investigated the nra -endorsed carry guard affinity insurance program. the investigation -- concluded violated state law. the nra filed suit, arguing miss vullo