On the recordDecember 7, 2020
I thank the gentleman for yielding. I, too, rise today to pay tribute to my good friend and mentor on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Greg Walden. I spent 27 years in the United States Air Force. We lived by a code of conduct every day. We came to work. We embodied those core values of integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all that we do. In my experience, it is not often that you find people in private life or in other sectors of public life who also embody those same core values, but Chairman Greg Walden does. Whether he was fighting for healthcare changes for the American people, to make America more energy independent and secure, whether he was trying to make sure that Big Tech did not overrun the American people, you could always count on Greg Walden to be out in front leading, not following, and, certainly, not leading from behind. I learned a lot in the 6 years that I served with Greg Walden when he was on the Energy and Commerce Committee as the chairman, and even before that as chair of our National Republican Congressional Committee. It is with a great deal of sadness that we see him leave because a lot of core institutional knowledge is going to go out the door. But I want to say how much I have admired working with Greg Walden.
