John Bel Edwards: “As we celebrate the extraordinary public service of seven great Texans, I must also say as a Texan there is a lot that…”

“As we celebrate the extraordinary public service of seven great Texans, I must also say as a Texan there is a lot that we will miss. As a Texan and as Texans we will miss 80 years of seniority in this body, the House of Representatives, where seniority means a lot in terms of effectiveness for our States. Texas and I will miss having the ranking member, the senior Democrat on the Committee on Rules, one of the most important committees anywhere in Congress. We will miss having the ranking member of the Committee on Agriculture, and we will miss having the ranking member of Homeland Security. Perhaps this is Texas's gift to the States of New York, Minnesota, and Mississippi, who will now have those ranking positions. We will miss having the chairman of the House Congressional Hispanic Caucus, an important voice for Hispanics throughout Texas and our country. We will miss having the chief deputy whip on the Democratic side and a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and we will miss a true national leader on the issue of missing children. I think our greatest loss, as important as it is and as sad as it is for our State to have lost 80 years of seniority in the ranking positions of key committees, our greatest loss is that we will lose people of great integrity who were truly dedicated to the principle of unselfish public service.”