U.S. Rep. John Katko said he was proud of his bipartisan work over the last eight years representing Central New York in Congress and encouraged his colleagues to work across the aisle after he’s gone during a farewell address on the House of Representatives floor Wednesday morning.

“I am proud of the work we have done over the past eight years to unite people and solve serious problems,” Katko said. “I focused on unifying issues. Regularly introduced bills with Democratic cosponsors, broke with my own party when it was in the best interest of Central New York, remained an active member of the Problem Solvers Caucus. I am proud to have led and grown the Republican Governance Group.”

Katko was first elected to New York’s 24th Congressional District in 2014, defeating Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei. He was re-elected easily in 2016, 2018 and 2020. He decided not to seek a fifth term this year.

He made a name as a bipartisan member of the chamber, which he touted often on the campaign trail.

“I’m proud of this approach to governing — and honored to have consistently ranked among the most bipartisan and effective members of Congress,” Katko said. “It yielded passage of nearly 100 bills and the enactment of laws by presidents from both parties.”

The congressman also bucked the majority of his own party on many key votes over the last few years. He voted against the Republican health care plan in 2017, voted to strip Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her House committee assignments in 2021 and, during the Biden administration, supported the infrastructure bill and CHIPS and Science Act, the latter of which is credited for landing a massive Micron investment in his home district.

“In the past year alone, we brought home nearly $9 million in Community Project funding for initiatives that will improve the quality of life across our district,” he said.

Perhaps Katko’s most famous vote against his party was when he became the first House Republican in the country to announce he would vote to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2021 after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. After his vote, he went on a month-long crusade to create an independent commission to investigate Jan. 6 modeled after the investigation into the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The proposal had some bipartisan support but was opposed by GOP leadership and ultimately failed to pass.

Katko on Wednesday urged Congress to continue bipartisan efforts despite the polarization often seen in Washington.

“Congress is seemingly more divided than ever. Our inability to find common ground is making us less competitive on the world stage, less prosperous, and getting in the way of solving big problems,” he said. “We were all sent here by our constituents to put the work in, to better our districts. When there’s only fights and no bipartisan cooperation, it’s our constituents who suffer.

“I made working across the aisle a priority during my eight years in the House, and I can leave here knowing I achieved real results and worked every day to better my district in Central New York,” he continued.

Katko will be succeeded in the new 22nd District by Republican Brandon Williams, who will be sworn in on Jan. 3.