Brian Babin: “I thank my friend and neighbor across the Sabine River for having this special order honoring Representative Young. We…”

“I thank my friend and neighbor across the Sabine River for having this special order honoring Representative Young. We are here to honor the dean of our House, Congressman Don Young. For nearly half a century, Don devoted his life to serving the people of Alaska and our Nation, starting his long career in Congress just 4 years after we landed an astronaut on the surface of the moon. A staggering thought. ``North to the Future'' is the motto of our 49th State. It is meant to represent Alaska as the land of promise. Throughout 10 different administrations, multiple wars and conflicts, national tragedies, the invention of the worldwide web, September the 11th, and much more, Don never stopped trying to spread the motto of his home State to the rest of our Nation because he saw America as a land of promise. He understood the need to learn from our successes and our failures, adapt and push forward boldly, and bold he was. I will miss his fiery personality, his fearlessness, and his unique ability to get bills expedited if he concluded that they were taking too long. I share Don's fierce love for Alaska and the great outdoors, and I routinely visited his great State to hunt and fish over many years. If you have seen Alaska's breathtaking terrain and wildlife, you will never wonder why Don adored that State so much. He stood by his State through the thick and the thin.…”