Dean Phillips: “I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for yielding and for organizing this important Special Order hour. As a Gold Star…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for yielding and for organizing this important Special Order hour. As a Gold Star son who lost his father in the Vietnam War, I empathize with and salute the honorable men and women who don a uniform and risk their lives and too often lose their lives protecting our country and our communities, oftentimes without the appreciation or support that they need and that they deserve. So I rise today to express gratitude to the over 11,000 police officers who serve and protect the residents of my home State of Minnesota, an overwhelming majority of whom are compassionate and principled public servants. I am proud of the law enforcement agencies that serve Hennepin and Carver counties in Minnesota's Third District, innovative and well-led police departments committed to building cultures and communities in which everyone, and I repeat everyone, feels safe. People like Dawanna Witt, whose remarkable life story of perseverance embodies the very best of our law enforcement community. Ms. Witt grew up surrounded by alcoholism and drug addiction, was subject to sexual abuse, had her first baby at age 15, and lived with her newborn in a homeless shelter. But she finished high school with honors, then received her bachelor's degree and then her master's. And today she is known as Major Witt, a grandmother of two, supervisor of 500 employees at the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and a rising star in Minnesota law enforcement.…”