Glenn Thompson: “This is a pretty incredible week here in Washington, D.C., an incredible week for the American people. When you look at…”

“This is a pretty incredible week here in Washington, D.C., an incredible week for the American people. When you look at the things that we accomplished this week, we have had historic tax reform--long overdue. This is a break for hardworking middle class American families. I encourage folks to check out the facts for themselves on exactly what happens. But it is not the only thing we have done. Already this week we have passed a conference report on the national defense authorization, the largest raise for our military in over 10 years, providing them the resources they need to be safe, to be effective, yes, to be lethal, and to be able to return home at the end of the day and to have their needs met. We did something that was very important for a State like Pennsylvania, where we have almost 90,000 miles of streams. We did historic flood insurance reform, where we really separated and looked inland, the needs there, versus mixing things together, allowing local municipalities, as long as they comply with the FEMA processes, to be able to really determine where the actual flood risk is. We haven't had that. In the past, it has all been done from Washington. It has been done rather poorly. But there is more than that. This week is also National Apprenticeship Week, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to highlight apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are a part of career and technological education as a pathway to family-sustaining careers and wages.…”