Sen. Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) was reelected as Senate President Pro Tempore on Tuesday by her Senate colleagues.

She is the first woman in the history of the Pennsylvania Legislature to serve as Senate President Pro Tempore and Senate Majority Leader in both the Pennsylvania House and Senate.

Ward offered these remarks after being sworn in.

“I would like to thank all of you, my Senate colleagues. I work and I’m surrounded by an amazing group of individuals, and it is a privilege and honor to oversee this body.

“All 50 senators who bestow this chamber were put here by people that they genuinely care about, they want to represent and they want to do well for them. We all serve, because we care about how government touches our communities, our families, all decisions we make affect businesses and jobs, and how public policy shapes our lives.

“While it’s important that we continue to work together to help the people who send us here, it’s equally important that the Senate as the upper chamber, remain accountable to the people of Pennsylvania by ensuring good and effective legislation, that that is the kind of legislation that we pass and we have done so but it’s not easy with a split government, but even so, as the upper chamber we have a responsibility and are duty-bound by our state constitution to rise above and work through the challenges of a split government and deliver for the people that we represent.

“That means pausing, pulling back the layers and vetting issues to find a path forward, not just expediting legislation because it was sent to us. (We) must be disciplined and reviewing legislation thoughtfully and with the people are at the top of our mind, not simply passing legislation to say that we did it. What is happening politically in our government nationally is very upsetting. It doesn’t need to be that way. It makes our nation and our citizens look so divided.

“Well, there are many things that I am thankful for. I’m incredibly proud of this chamber, because we have respect for each other. We talk to each other. I’d like that we talk to each other. We talk about politics, issues, personal interests. We do all of that. All of us, and we see each other as people and not parties. And we are so far ahead of Washington DC. Because of that. I am proud of us. I think we do a phenomenal job because we know each other. When we vote here, what you witness is a diverse constituency and diverse senators voting the way they need to vote for their areas and what they believe. But what you don’t see is a bunch of mud throwing. We don’t do that here. It’s a nice place to serve.

“You know, we’re all people. We’re not parties. We all have parents and children and moms and dads and brothers and we respect each other. We might try to influence each other and we might disagree on things. We respect each other. We saw some of that this past year with increases in the child care tax credit, continued and historic investments in education and funding for our community colleges.

“Those are just a few of the things. We also made a good effort to strengthen our hospital community, support EMS providers,  and increase public safety. We also took steps to take care of our own, setting a standard of no tolerance with introduction of a sexual harassment legislation. And I’m looking forward to continuing to work with senators Collett, Phillips-Hill, Pennycuick and many other members of this chamber, colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to help advance that legislation.

“Well, we’ve taken some solid steps forward and must continue in helping to provide not only a prosperous path for our Commonwealth, but one with more certainty and minimal delay for Pennsylvanians. They want us to get things done. You also want to understand what our path is. We look forward. I’m hopeful that we can together not only put Pennsylvania when a greater path to prosperity, but strengthen our bonds within this chamber to put people first and especially our kids first. And we have a once in a lifetime opportunity this year to change the trajectory of our children by creating an education system that benefits all children. We’re gonna have to put ideology aside, our noses to the grind, and just work on it.

“We can do more to help families succeed by cutting bureaucratic red tape and not creating necessarily more entitlement programs. We can do more to put kids and families first by getting out of the way where we can and providing temporary assistance where we need to, or not as I mentioned all the same party or ideology but we are all here for one basic reason, and that is to make change for the betterment of the people we represent.

“We are blessed and honored to be given this opportunity and to leave things better than when we got here. I think we’re on a great path to do that. And I’m grateful and honored for your support as I continue in the role as a Senate Pro Tempore. So thank you all very, very much.”