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This has been, without question, over the years that I’ve served in the Indiana General
Assembly, one of the most difficult sessions that we’ve had. I know that the people of
Indiana had spoken. I know there was a reaction to what was going on on the federal level.
And a lot of people voted, and in the process one party gained control of both the House
and the Senate and the governor’s office, putting them in pretty much absolute control
of everything that goes on here. And I know that the people were wanting change, but I’m
not sure that the changes that we have seen during this session were the changes that
they wanted. So this has been a difficult time. And as we’ve worked on the budget,
we’ve had, of course, an economic downturn nationally and it’s affected the state of
Indiana, but we’ve seen some rebound. But even with that rebound, we have still not
properly funded public education. We have made changes in our budget that I don’t
believe the people of the state were wanting: Taking away the power of the minority to have
any input or any say in what goes on during the legislative process, not just this year,
but from now on. Those are all things that happened that I think were very, very wrong,
not what the people of this state had voted for and very troubling to me. And that’s
why I think this has been the most troubling session that I’ve had the opportunity to
serve in. But we’ll come back, and I’m looking forward to serving again. Thank you.