Rick Allen: “I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for holding this special order. This is a topic that we need to have a family…”

“I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for holding this special order. This is a topic that we need to have a family discussion on. This Congress needs to sit down together and have a family discussion on where we are as a nation because I am deeply troubled by the state of our Nation, and most of my constituents who talk with me on a daily basis ask me what in the world is going on. I go back to my childhood. I grew up on a farm, and I learned the value of hard work. I tell people that outside of this President, my daddy was the hardest worker that I have ever known. I am not sure he could outwork this President. Mr. Speaker, my dad was one of five people in my county that you would go to see if you were going to run for public office. That is how much he cared about his community; that is how much he cared about that county; and that is how much he cared about his State. I will be honest with you. My mother, my brother, my sister, and I would get upset with him because he spent time doing things outside of the home, trying to make our county and our State a better place to live. So, one day, I asked him about it. I said: Dad, why are you so involved in public service? He said: Son, I grew up in the Great Depression, and I fought in World War II. And in both times, I really thought there was a possibility we were going to lose this country.…”