Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her work on this. Tonight, I want to share the story of a young man from my district, James Brendan Bye. His mother, Barbara, a good friend of mine, shared her story with me and asked that I share it tonight with this Congress and with the country. Brendan was born on August 3, 1989, followed by his sister, Megan Elizabeth. Their father left early on, leaving Barbara as a single working parent. Another sibling, Preston, blessed them in 1999. Brendan was a wonderful kid, a respectful young man, an honor student. His love of playing sports was never realized because of asthma. In his senior year of high school, things changed. He became paralyzed with fear, couldn't go to school, dropped out, and spent a year looking for help. He met friends that turned out to be bad influences, made experimental choices. His mother was aware of this sudden change and saw the signs of anxiety and depression. Brendan, though, got his GED, started a job at 18, grateful for work in a city with high unemployment. He struggled through his early twenties. His mother did everything in her power to help him. As a single mom, she worked and raised a family of three on one paycheck, often finding herself needing to look for help, including Medicaid. For Brendan, because his symptoms of mental illness were not so easily recognizable, help was harder to get. He was not properly diagnosed or treated. His treatment plan did not work. It was not successful.…”