and they immediately follow senator george voinovich one of the finest public servants our state has ever known. at we are grateful to george and janet for their support and friendship and the extraordinary legacy that they leave. there is another former house senator whose -- robert a. taft a fellow cincinnati and who worked at the same law firm where i was a partner before being elected to congress. like me he also served in the house of representatives and the executive branch. unlike me he was first in hisoo high school college and law school class and was said to have the best mind in washington democrats joke that he of the best mind in washington until he made it up. he was saved principle republican leader and in fact whent, his review of the top fie senators in the history of thiso place he was selected to be among that is why he is one of only five senators to have a portrais hanging in the presidents room right here on the senate floor. he was at future profiling courage in john kennedy spoke in on his o memorial con constitutn avenue is written that his quote spans as a ch

when george voinovich announced he would not seek reelection, i made a decision to run because i was so concerned about the direction of my state and our country. i saw the bottom falling out of the ohio economy. i saw firsthand what happens with layoffs an downsizing. like others, i was frustrated while ohio small businesses and families were making tough decisions, the federal government seemed immune, out of touch. instead of cutting expenses and figuring out how to do more with less and focusing on private sector job growth, the obama administration and congress responded with a big government approach. unfortunately the $800 billion stimulus package had less to do with creating private sector jobs than growing the size an scope of government. in the midst of all this i saw a new national health care bill working its way through the system that would lock in place the unsustainable costs and inefficiency in our current health care system, making health care more expensive for families and small businesses and making it harder to deal with the exploding cost of health care in our