Cliff Stearns: “Thank you, Barbara. And let me just conclude before we leave here to say we have a lunch today--and I hope all of you…”

“Thank you, Barbara. And let me just conclude before we leave here to say we have a lunch today--and I hope all of you will come--to bestow the 2016 Distinguished Service Award on the current Senators and Representatives who are retiring after the 114th Congress. Our Association has decided that every 2 years, we will take our Distinguished Service Award and dedicate it to the retiring Members as an opportunity to thank them for their public service and to let them know that, through our Association, their service can continue. And since we cannot hand a plaque to all of these people, we have decided to award a $1,000 scholarship in their name to a graduating high school senior from a D.C. school. We invited students to compete for this scholarship by writing an essay about civic responsibility and what it means to be a citizen. Out of the many really outstanding submissions we received, we selected a very impressive individual who is graduating and is heading to Harvard. His name is Nicholas Stauffer- Mason, and he and his mother will join us for lunch later today. I hope all of you will attend. Thank you, everybody, for this opportunity.”