On the recordDecember 14, 2017
I would like to just take a moment and recognize another anniversary. Six months ago today, on a baseball field just a few miles from here, I and several of our colleagues found ourselves in a combat zone of our own. It doesn't seem like it has been 6 whole months since a crazed gunman walked onto our field and started shooting at us. But the reason I want to bring that up today is because every person on that field that day who was shot at is still in this House today and still walking around in Washington, D.C. By the grace of God, we were protected during that time, and I just want to thank everyone for their prayers and support, and those who responded to that event and came out and saved the lives of many of us. Steve Scalise, the whip whom we serve with here; Matt Mika, one of our staff members; Zack Barth, a congressional staffer; and Capitol Police Special Agent Crystal Griner all were wounded during that battle, and it really was a battle. But I also want to highlight some of those who did not leave the field that day, who stayed and helped others; people like my good friend from Mississippi, Congressman Trent Kelly, an Army Reservist, who, when he identified the shooter, did not panic, but he alerted others, and then eventually led many to safety behind a concrete building. Representative Mo Brooks stayed and helped apply a tourniquet to Zack Barth who had been shot in the calf.…
