Roy Blunt: “I want to spend a few minutes talking about your fellow North Carolinian, Billy Graham. It is very appropriate that you…”

“I want to spend a few minutes talking about your fellow North Carolinian, Billy Graham. It is very appropriate that you are in the Chair as I do this--and some of my colleagues are going to follow--as we honor the life and legacy of Billy Graham. He was sometimes called America's Preacher, and sometimes called America's Pastor, but he went to Heaven last week. And what a 99 years he had while he was here. He lies in honor today. You and I were over there earlier today in the Rotunda of the Capitol. Only three private citizens prior to today have been granted that honor: civil rights champion Rosa Parks in 2005 and two U.S. Capitol police officers who died in the line of duty in 1998, Officer Jacob Chestnut, Jr., and Detective John Gibson. Somebody observed this morning while we were in the Rotunda of the Capitol that he is surrounded there by friends he made during his life. President Eisenhower, President Ford, President Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King all are memorialized with statues and a bust in the Capitol. So Billy Graham is right at home today with people he made friends with during his life, gave advice to during his life, but never really saw as uniquely his ministry. His ministry was for people everywhere. I might mention that President Truman--and I stand right here behind one of the desks he used when he was a Senator from Missouri. He was the first President that Billy Graham met with, in 1950.…”