Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today to extend a special thank- you to the hardworking men and women across the Nation, but especially in South Carolina, who dedicate themselves to keeping the lights on during this difficult winter. For so many of us, switching on the light switch is something that we take for granted. It is easy to forget all the hard work that goes into making that happen. A couple of weeks ago, Winter Storm Pax hit South Carolina leaving a path of destruction in many of the smaller communities in my district without power, crippled by the ice and snow. It is something that was so dramatic that the executive director of the South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff said that the storm was the most significant weather event in South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo. And I can assure you that, for us, that is saying a lot. To give some quick numbers as to what happened, more than 3,000 people went to work in South Carolina. The folks from Duke Energy alone cleared more than 7,000 trees off of the power lines in South Carolina. It is these types of efforts that these folks put in every single winter to make sure that something that we take for granted actually happens when we flip on the lights. In recognition of those efforts, the efforts that they undertake every single winter, I am introducing a bill today to declare March 31 as National Lineman Appreciation Day. I hope we can count on my colleagues to send this very small thank- you.…”