On the recordJuly 25, 2017
I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his wonderful, beautiful, and heartfelt words about where he comes from, how that shaped him, and how deeply he believes in the people in the country, as we say in west Texas. He talked about a lot of things. He talked about the folks who work the land, and he talked about traditional American values. Mr. Speaker, I think you are going to hear some common themes from my colleagues this evening. The gentleman also mentioned the burden of Big Government. I said, coming into this office and after 8 years of the advent and explosion of Big Government, that when our economy in urban and suburban is like a patient who is sick, the rural patients are in the ICU because small businesses, community banks, and family farmers bear a disproportionate burden when it comes to the trillions of dollars and the cumulative effect of all the rules and regulations out of the last year. So rescuing the American economy is about helping a sick patient. Rescuing the rural economy is getting the patient stabilized and off life support so we can live to farm, to fight, and to have the kind of quality of life that we love for another day. Mr. Speaker, I have got a good friend that I have made since I came to the United States Congress. The gentleman is from the 12th District of the great State of Georgia. He is a son of a farmer. I bet he knows something about working the land. I bet he knows something about a work ethic.…
