00:00Mr. President, a year ago, my two little boys sat right up there in the gallery above as I
00:10raised my right hand here on the floor. It was a moment unlike any other moment I've ever had in
00:16my life. My dear colleagues, I hope it's never lost upon us that we get to work a job whose
00:23job description is written in the Constitution of the United States. What a deeply humbling
00:28experience, one we should treasure every chance we get. Never in my life have I felt the call to
00:37serve so strongly and viscerally as I do right now. I believe we are in a moment of extraordinary
00:44consequence and magnitude that the next five years will shape the next five decades. There is
00:52nowhere else I'd rather be than to be able to have a voice in this room and a vote in this chamber
00:59of monumental decisions that will shape our nation's future through tumultuous times.
01:06But there's a bittersweet taste now, a year later, as I look back upon the day that I was sworn in.
01:13By my children's side, as they watched me a year ago, were my parents, both born during the Korean
01:19War, born into poverty and struggled to survive. Both saw America as a place where they could achieve
01:27the closest thing that they could get to a guarantee that the family that they raised would have a better
01:32life than they did. It was actually predecessors in this room that passed the immigration reform that
01:39allowed my parents to come here. Had it not been for those decisions made here, our family story would
01:46have no choice and no chance in America. And the decisions we are making now are shaping families
01:52for generations to come. I am in awe of what this nation has afforded my family in just one generation.
02:00But now I think through an episode that happened a few weeks ago. I was with my father at the doctor's
02:06office, and the doctor asked my father, tell me about your son. Tell me what he does for a living,
02:12as I was seated right next to him. My father fell silent. He turned to me and looked with embarrassed
02:20eyes and said, I don't know. My father no longer remembers being in this chamber a year ago.
02:29He no longer remembers that momentous day I had hoped that our family would never forget.
02:35He no longer remembers that his hard journey from the Korean War to immigrating to America
02:40America that led to his son being sworn in as the very first Korean American senator ever.
02:48And it got worse. The next question the doctor asked him was, what job did you have? What was your
02:55life's work? And my father stared at the ground and paused and said the same three words. I don't know.
03:04Three words that I'm sure I will hear a lot more of from him. Because that was the day that my father
03:12was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Now, what made this all the more painful is that the answer to my,
03:18to the doctor's question, what did my father do for his career? The answer is that my father was a
03:24geneticist, a medical researcher who spent his life trying to cure cancer and Alzheimer's. And now,
03:32as I was there witnessing Alzheimer's erased from my father's memory, any recollection of his efforts
03:38to try to erase Alzheimer's from our world. I couldn't help but feel that Alzheimer's had won.
03:45I remember dropping him off after the appointment and sitting in the car alone, left to grapple with
03:54our new future, realizing for the first time that to my list of core identities, as a son, as a brother,
04:02a husband, a father, an American, a public servant, I now add caregiver. But with all of these other
04:11identities that I've assumed, I've embraced them. They've brought me joy and opportunity. They brought
04:16me my partner for life. They brought me the most precious boys I could ever imagine. But this new
04:23identity as a caregiver felt like it brought my family certain pain. The doctor warned me that the
04:30next year or two of my life would be hell. I remember having to rush back to the Capitol for votes after
04:38that doctor's appointment. And I was actually standing in this very spot when one of you came
04:42to me and started telling me about a bill that you wanted me to look at. And I remember politely
04:47saying, I'm sorry, but I'm barely keeping it together right now. My father's not well. Can we please
04:56talk about this tomorrow? And instead of walking away, my colleague stayed with me, showed me comfort,
05:03opened about their own struggles and challenges in their family. And I responded by sharing my growing
05:10fears about the uncertainty that lay ahead, that I would be forced to seek not the best care that my
05:16father could get, but instead the best care for my father that my family could afford. And suddenly I
05:23felt inadequate as a son and I panicked. I couldn't help but play back the last few years and I beat myself
05:29up that I didn't see this coming. Was there something I could have done to better prepare
05:34for this moment? I should have seen the warning signs and took the precautions to provide better
05:39care for my father and my family. And I fixated on a singular question, why is it so hard to provide
05:46care in this country? And from that question comes others. Why is providing care so insanely complicated?
05:57Why does it feel like we are so alone when we try to provide care to the people we love?
06:03And for many, the disease or injury is only part of the problem. We are the richest, most powerful
06:10country in the world. Why does it cost so much to provide care? The answers explain my anxiety. The
06:18median cost for a private room in a senior care facility in New Jersey is $14,788 per month.
06:27That's over $177,000 per year. That is outrageous. It should be unacceptable. Who can afford that? I'll
06:38tell you, I can't. I look at the costs and I look at our finances and the cost of caregiving have been
06:44catastrophic for my family this year. But this is the reality for millions of Americans. And so many
06:51countless families are in much more dire circumstances than mine. They tell me how they are
06:58basically having to bankrupt themselves. A neighbor told me how she had to sell her forever home that
07:04they had hoped to grow old in just to pay her husband's bills for his dementia care. This is the
07:11storm after the storm. A storm of our own making. And out of this strain and stress, we feel alone.
07:19It shouldn't have to be this hard. And on top of this, I feel overwhelmed by a nagging feeling that
07:26my new identity as a caregiver is in direct competition with my other identities. That it
07:32diminishes and drains what I can provide to my kids as their father and to others that I love.
07:39I can't save for their education like I had planned to. I think of all the costs that we have endured over
07:45the years, daycare, healthcare, all the other experiences that I want to provide my kids that
07:50I might no longer be able to. And even if you can afford this, what an anxiety-filled time it is to
07:59be raising kids. You can try to keep them off their phones or social media, but it dominates the
08:05conversations they have with their friends. You can try to give them the best education, but you look at
08:12the future where AI dominates and you worry if they will be able to find a job that provides them
08:17the stability and security you want for them. And I see a world around us, the wars and the divisiveness.
08:25It's so much at times it feels hard to breathe. And I ask myself question, what kind of America are my
08:33two boys, your kids and your grandkids, going to grow up in? Regardless of the political parties to
08:42which we belong, I think we can all agree that a nation this powerful and this extraordinary should
08:48not be mired in this level of division. My boys are now eight and ten. That gives me about 15 years
08:57before they're off on their own. And I know actually many of you have told me that it will be much longer
09:02than that because they'll probably move back into my basement after college. But that's my timeline.
09:09I got about 15 years to try and fix this. So that is why I'm here. That is why I take a seat in the US
09:18Senate. I'm a father willing to do everything I humanly can to try to fix this country for my kids
09:26and my family. But I'm worried. I'm worried because we stand here in this chamber under this ubiquitous
09:35phrase, e pluribus unum, out of many one, centered in the most prominent position in this room.
09:44It is the same motto that perches over the Capitol Rotunda, the house chamber, the oval office.
09:50But I ask you, does it ring true, especially in this divided moment? It often feels that it's more
10:00like out of many, many, e pluribus multis. But I still believe in that phrase. I still believe in
10:08e pluribus unum. It's a beautiful and telling phrase. But as I've been thinking about it, I realize
10:14that there's something missing. How does many turn into one? The phrase, it's missing the verb.
10:24How do we actually get from many to one? It doesn't just happen on its own. Now, being the nerd that I
10:31am, I dug around and I tracked down the origin of the phrase back to Cicero at the dawn of republics,
10:38and I found the missing verb. He says, when each person loves the other as much as himself,
10:45it makes one out of many. The missing verb is to love. But how do we express that to each other,
10:55not just here in this chamber, but across this great land? Another way to think about it
11:01is when we care for one another as we would care for ourselves. Care is how we manifest love of nation,
11:11love of each other. And it is this realization that I have come to. E pluribus unum requires love
11:19and care. How we become one out of many is to become caregivers to one another, that we here in this
11:27chamber are to be caregivers to this nation, a nation that right now needs healing, a nation whose
11:33future is uncertain and unsteady. My role as a caregiver has taken on new meaning. The care with
11:41which I transfer my father to his wheelchair and wash his disabled body is but an example of the care
11:48with which we must handle a nation in fragile times. And in my new role, I've learned that care must
11:55flow in all directions, not just towards those that we feel affinity to. I've not shared this publicly
12:02before. But my father and I have had a difficult relationship over our lives. We've gone through
12:09tough times of division and separation. And I'd be lying to you if I told you that being a caregiver to
12:16him is easy and flows naturally from a boundless love. It's hard to provide care if it doesn't
12:24always feel reciprocal. And there are times that I feel guilty when I feel trapped.
12:32But for all the faults that he and I embody, it doesn't diminish responsibility. And I will give him
12:39a good and decent life as best that I can provide. I will bring that same sense of responsibility right
12:46here into this chamber with a nation divided. I believe that one can and should care for one another,
12:54even in the face of division and disagreement. Just as caregivers have a responsibility to those in
13:01their care. We as senators, as Americans, have a responsibility to one another, as community members,
13:09as people. And here in the Senate, it's where we should exemplify this action of care.
13:17I have seen glimpses of what the Senate can be, this sacred ground that we get the honor to embody.
13:23It's not just a place of heated debate and consequential votes. It can be a place of care. It must be a place
13:31of care, not just for those of us in this chamber, but for the nation. The care you have shown me,
13:38from the ears with which you have listened to my telling of my troubles, let us pour that out of
13:43these doors and give it towards the seven million Americans afflicted with Alzheimer's. The tens of
13:49millions more who are families struggling with the struggles of their loved ones. Let our care pour out
13:56to the tens of millions of parents who struggle to give their kids the kind of life they want.
14:02Let us build a caregiver movement to care for our family and also our nation.
14:09Today, in this maiden speech, I make a promise to the people of New Jersey and the people of this
14:13country that for as long as I have to serve here, I will do everything I can to give you the care you
14:21deserve. I will care for your parents and grandparents as hard as I will for mine. I will care for your
14:28kids and grandkids as much as I care for mine. I will not be perfect and I will stumble at times,
14:35but I've learned as a caregiver I have no other choice but to endure. Whether it's the emergency
14:41calls in the middle of the night or the drop everything moments where I have to rush to the
14:46hospital, there is no alternative. As a caregiver, we are the backstop. We here in this chamber need
14:56to be that for the ailing nation. We are the backstop. And there are times where it will be
15:04to again quote my father's doctor, hell, not just for my family but for our country. But there is no
15:11greater cause than care. No bigger responsibility exists than the one we have to the people we love
15:19and that extends to the nation that we love. And there's no larger obligation that we have as senators,
15:25as Americans, to make it easier to look after each other. This is my maiden speech.
15:35And one day I will stand here again to give my farewell speech. And the duration between these
15:43two speeches will, I hope, not be measured in years, but instead by the problems I sought to tackle and
15:49solve. That in between these speeches, I hope we meet the urgency and lead our nation forward with
15:56strategy and purpose. I've often said that we work in what's arguably the most reactionary building in
16:03America, reacting to the headlines, the social posts. But it doesn't have to be this way.
16:10Instead, we can be a Senate that sets out real goals and builds the strategy to meet them.
16:15Where do we want our nation to be in 10, 20, 30 years from now? I want to be a part of that Senate.
16:25A Senate unafraid to pursue big ideas.
16:28I hope in my future farewell speech, I can say that I was part of the Senate that finally delivered
16:37universal health care for our nation. A Senate that found a way to provide child care to every family
16:44and long-term care for every senior in need. A Senate that catalyzed innovation that led to prevent
16:51and cure Alzheimer's and other wretched diseases. A Senate that finally gave care to our caregivers,
16:58who for so long have felt invisible and taken for granted. A Senate that stood up against corruption and
17:06restored trust of the American people back into our democracy and governance. A Senate that helped
17:13restore American global leadership, which shaped a world where peace and prosperity fosters freedom and
17:20innovation for everyone. And a Senate that created the kind of America where I can ease my anxiety as a parent,
17:33as I watch my boys become men. Colleagues, I ask for your help here, because I cannot do this alone.
17:43None of us have this power alone. And the nation is looking to us right now to right the ship and give a vision that we can be proud of.
17:57To my staff, I promise you that this will be a noble journey you will be proud to be a part of.
18:04I know this will be hard and could very well fall short of our lofty goals.
18:13But I want no regret in my time here in this sacred chamber.
18:17That I can say I did everything I could, that I have no regrets about the time I spent here,
18:26being a caregiver to our great nation, to make one out of many.
18:32I'm ready. Let's get to work. And with that, I'll give back.
18:37I'll give it to you all.
18:42Thank you very much.
18:56You
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