Pete Sessions: “Tonight, Members of Congress who are Eagle Scouts are taking to the floor of the House of Representatives to say thank…”

“Tonight, Members of Congress who are Eagle Scouts are taking to the floor of the House of Representatives to say thank you not only to the Boy Scouts of America but to recognize and to highlight our opportunity while in Boy Scouts, and now, as Members of Congress, to talk about how important the Boy Scouts of America is to the youth, the young men and young women of this country, and, also, to highlight the leadership that takes place every single day in this country: men and women who volunteer their time to make sure that the Boy Scouts of America are prepared and ready to meet not only the times that we live in but the advances of young people and the challenges that they have. Tonight, as an Eagle Scout of the Eagle class of 1970, it is my opportunity to introduce Members of Congress and then to follow up at the end as we talk about how important Scouting is. Today, there are 1,262,311 boys in Scouting from ages 6 to 10 in Cub Scouts. There are 822,999 boys aged 11 to 17 in Boy Scouts of America and Varsity Scouts. There are 119,268 young men and young women between the ages of 10 to 20 who are engaged in exploring based upon programs that may be STEM or other Scouting programs. As you see, Mr. Speaker, the Boy Scouts of America is important to the youth of this country. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Collins), who is the head of our Scouting Caucus, and the Eagle class of 1963.”