Mike Thompson: “I rise today to ask the House to approve House Concurrent Resolution 149 to allow us to use the rotunda on June 7 to…”

“I rise today to ask the House to approve House Concurrent Resolution 149 to allow us to use the rotunda on June 7 to honor Charles Schulz, Sparky Schulz, who not only is an institution in this country and all the other countries where his comic strip was printed daily in all of the different newspapers, but also a very good personal friend and a constituent. Scott Adams, who is the creator of the Dilbert cartoon, once remarked about Sparky's passing, ``It's the end of an era, and it's hard to imagine that cartooning will ever be the same. In basketball, you can say that Michael Jordan was the greatest ever. In cartooning, Charles Schulz was the greatest ever and probably the greatest there will ever be.'' I think it is most fitting that this Congress chose to bestow on Mr. Schulz the Congressional Gold Medal, and I think it speaks more to, than just to his cartooning. He was a great American, a great citizen. For 50 years, every day he drew his own Snoopy cartoon. He was also there, it was mentioned, in World War II entertaining the troops. It is also important to note that this great American was there on D-Day on the front lines. Charles Schulz is most deserving of this recognition; and it is appropriate, I believe, that we allow the rotunda to be used for this purpose. I would ask all of my colleagues to support this effort.”