Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank my dear friend from Indiana and his staff and thank the majority manager and her staff for their leadership on this bill. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of section 8129, particularly, of this bill. This section, Mr. Chairman, would finally allow the Secretary of Defense, in the event of a government shutdown, to make military death gratuity payments to families of fallen servicemembers. I commend the committee for including this long overdue provision, which was my number one priority request to the committee and the subject of bipartisan legislation I have introduced in every Congress. I was pleased to colead that with my friend Tom Rooney of Florida. It was shameful that Congress previously would allow the government to shut down and allow grieving families of fallen servicemembers to go without this small, impartial measure of our appreciation and gratitude for their loved one's ultimate service. Sadly, that is what happened in the shutdown of October 2013 and the subsequent shutdown of January 2018. We must ensure this never happens again. The action taken by the committee pursuant to the bill we introduced does just that. I want to again thank the committee for righting a wrong. No grieving family should worry when Congress doesn't do its job and allows the funding of the government to lapse that their payments remembering their loved ones and the sacrifice they made are at risk--never again. Mr. Chair, I thank my colleagues for their leadership.…”