MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (Press Release) – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, D-Wis., on Friday announced that he will not seek another term in 2012. Kohl is currently serving his fourth term in the U.S. Senate, which will expire at the end of the 112th Congress on January 3, 2013. He delivered the following remarks from his Milwaukee Senate office this morning:
“On a day much like this one, in May, 1988, I announced my intention to run for the United States Senate.
“I promised then that if the people of Wisconsin sent me to the Senate, I would work my heart out every day. And I would be nobody’s Senator but yours.
“Every day since then I have done my best to keep that promise to the people of the state I love.
“The greatest honor and the greatest responsibility of my life has been to serve as Wisconsin’s United States Senator. But I have never believed this was my Senate seat. I always knew and understood that it belongs to the people of Wisconsin. At the end of this term, I will have served in this office for 24 years.
“So even though I continue to love this job, I have decided that the time has come to give someone else the opportunity to serve. Therefore, I am announcing today that I will not seek another term as your Senator. Rather, I will devote all my energy and time in the next 19 months to continuing to serve the people of our state.
“As you know, I spent much of my life in business. At Kohl’s, as well as at the Bucks, we had the best employees to be found anywhere. They always put the customer first.
“As a Senator, I have had the finest staff anyone could ever have. And they have always put the people of Wisconsin first on every issue, large and small.
“I’ve always believed that it’s better to leave a job a little too early than a little too late. And that’s how I feel today. The interest and energy I have for this job will find a new home at the conclusion of this term.
“Finally, I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude to all the fine people I’ve met along the way. From one end of Wisconsin to the other – from Milwaukee to Superior, Kenosha to Eau Claire, LaCrosse to Green Bay, Madison to Wausau, and all points in between – the people of Wisconsin have been enormously kind and generous to me and I have attempted to return their friendship and trust with an unremitting effort to improve the quality of life for everyone in our state. They have enriched my life in so many ways and it has been an honor and a privilege to serve you and each and every person throughout Wisconsin.”
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At the White House, President Obama issued the following statement:
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“Today, I called Senator Herb Kohl to thank him for his remarkable career in public service.
“During his 23 years in the United States Senate, Herb’s invaluable perspective as the long-time head of a family-owned business made him an unwavering voice for working families, small business owners, and seniors.
“America’s children will grow up in a better place thanks to his advocacy on behalf of childhood nutrition programs, a strengthened food safety system, access to affordable health care and childcare, and juvenile crime prevention.
“Herb’s dedication to American families and businesses remains evident today in the robust farming and manufacturing sector he helped foster in his home state of Wisconsin. And he has been a constant advocate to ensure that seniors in Wisconsin and across the country have access to affordable prescription drugs.
“Michelle and I extend our thanks to Senator Kohl for his years of service to our nation and offer our best wishes for the future to him and his family.”
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Preceding provided by Senator Kohl and by the White House. Kohl is a member of the Jewish community