Wounded Officers Recovery Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3298) to authorize the Capitol Police Board to make payments from the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund to employees of the United States Capitol Police who have sustained serious line-of-duty injuries, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Harper), chairman of the House Administration Committee, whom I want to thank for allowing me the opportunity to manage this very important bill today. I couldn't ask for a nicer, more respectful chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I do want to thank my good friend, Mr. Brady, for being here today, managing this bill on the other side, and I also want to thank the coach of the Democrats, who won this year. I certainly liked it better when we had the trophy.

But to be able to know that the thoughts and the prayers are with so many of our Capitol Police officers every single day and also, especially, the heroic actions of Agent Bailey and Agent Griner, what you and our next speaker did with this legislation makes all of us who were a part of this time very humble and thankful.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), our manager, the sponsor of this piece of legislation today.

(Mr. BARTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, the reason why we are here can't be stated much better than what my colleague Mr. Doyle just so eloquently delivered today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Marshall), one of our pitchers, one of our newest members of our congressional baseball team, and a good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Walker), our starting pitcher.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk), my good friend who was there with us that morning, somebody whom I watched act heroically and his watchful eye on the entire process, somebody who can give us his personal anecdotes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank my colleagues, Mr. Brady and Mr. Doyle, for the opportunity to come here today on this floor and show America the bipartisanship that we see and we witness on this floor every single day--not just because of a baseball game--to do what is right.

Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank my colleague, Joe Barton, for leading this effort--not only leading us as a manager of our baseball team, leading us as somebody who brings their son, their 11-year-old son to practice to have fun playing with a bunch of old guys who really shouldn't be playing baseball as much as we enjoy doing it, but to be able to do it, to raise money for local D.C. charities.

Joe, Jack, Barry, I, and the rest of us who were there that morning, none of us ever thought that, at approximately 7:09, we would hear the words: Run, he has got a gun. And it was mentioned by Mr. Doyle about those of us who dove in that dugout.

Let me tell you something, Mr. Speaker. I think I could have beaten Usain Bolt from home plate where I was standing to that dugout that day. I dove in that dugout not knowing where the shooter was, what the shooter's motives were, and what was next.

As I was working my way outside of that dugout, I saw Agent Bailey come onto that field in the line of fire to protect every single one of us who were there that day, and it wasn't just Members of Congress. It wasn't just people who this shooter may have politically disagreed with that morning that were there that day.

It was an 11-year-old boy like Jack Barton. There were innocent people walking in that park, walking their dogs, in the line of fire that morning because this person may have disagreed with what we do on this floor.

For those people who are watching today, understand, again, what we are doing here, which is what is right to help those heroes, Agent Bailey and Agent Griner, get access to the funds that all of America put forth on their behalf in less than 24 hours after that tragic shooting. Let us all remind them that we do get along; we do work together. It is not just when tragic moments like this happen. It is a lot more often than what you see.

In less than 24 hours after that shooting, the American people stepped up, and they did what Americans do in the wake of tragedies every single time we witness them.

We had already raised a record amount of money for local D.C. charities with this year's game, $600,000, $100,000 more than what was normal. And they sold, again, 10,000 seats. In less than 24 hours, the American people from all over this great Nation raised another $900,000 to go to local D.C. charities and to the Capitol Police Memorial Fund, which was added the last day.

They also sold 25,000 tickets. I think that game that night, we outsold like three major league games in attendance. We obviously didn't play as well as they did, but we outsold them.

And that shows you what America is all about. It shows you what Republicans and Democrats are all about. It shows you that in the wake of a senseless tragedy, where we watched our friend lay on that field, not knowing what the outcome was going to be for Steve Scalise and his family, Matt Mika, Zack Barth, Agent Griner, and Agent Bailey, that those two saved the lives of everyone on that field that day.

Charging at gunfire is not something I ever thought I would do, and I didn't do that day. But thank God they were there, and they did. And those Alexandria police officers, the police officers I never saw arrive at that scene, thank God they were there.

Because it is the heroic actions of all of those officers, especially those two who I joked with when I walked onto this House floor when I would see them here, not knowing that we would have ever been a part of something that will bind us all together, a tragedy that happens one morning in Alexandria, Virginia, while a bunch of old guys are playing baseball.

We will forever be bound by what we saw and what we witnessed that day. There is not an hour in the day that goes by in my life that I don't think about what happened on that field that morning.

The smells, the sounds, the fear that all of us experienced that day could have been, as every speaker said before, much worse without the heroes who ran toward gunfire, sacrificing themselves for every one of us, and every innocent person in that park, in that field that day.

This is why we have got to make this technical change, Mr. Speaker. We are here. We are lawmakers. We write the laws. We can change the laws. And when this fund was set up, because of the tragedy that many still in D.C. witnessed that day with Officer Gibson and Officer Chestnut who were gunned down protecting innocent Americans in this building, this fund was set up to honor them, not knowing that years later--and today is the anniversary of that shooting--we would need to modify this bill to help two more of our heroes who were lucky and blessed enough to survive.

Today we are going to do that because of the leadership of Mr. Barton and Mr. Doyle. Let me go back to that day in 1998. I was actually a new staffer for a new Member of Congress named John Shimkus. I was sitting in the district office in Springfield, Illinois,

when I heard the news that shootings were happening in the U.S. Capitol--the fear as a staffer that went through me, wondering where my friend and my boss were. But I got to see it from out there. I never thought years later I would get to witness it as a Member of Congress.

And witness it, we all did, but also we learned from it, and we learned what America was all about. And today is our day in the U.S. Congress to stand up for those heroes who protected us that day and say: We are going to help you.

I, and my family, my kids, my wife, every family member who I was able to reach out to that morning, and all of those who I wasn't able to talk to, we cannot say thank you enough to Agent Griner, Agent Bailey, and the Alexandria Police Department for making sure we have the ability to make this fix.

I urge every one of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill. Let's send a message back to America that we thank them for what they did for our officers, and we thank them for allowing all of us the privilege to serve in this great institution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friends Bob Brady and Rodney Davis and Joe Barton--not only good friends, but people that have been associated with the Congressional Baseball Game for a long time.

Mr. Speaker, every day, thousands of people, including Members of Congress and their staffs, rely upon the men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police to protect us. Over the years, the Capitol Police have been called upon to respond to a number of violent attacks, selflessly risking life and limb to protect us and the people who visit this Capitol. As was mentioned, this is the anniversary where Officers Gibson and Chestnut made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the then- leader of the House.

I know that all of us here are very grateful to the U.S. Capitol Police for their efforts every day to keep our Capitol safe.

Everyone pretty much knows what happened. Members of the Republican baseball team were attacked a little over a month ago. Each day we would get up at about 6 in the morning to go to baseball practice. It is a wonderful tradition that has been going on for over 100 years here in the House of Representatives, one game each year, Democrats against the Republicans, with the proceeds going to three charities: the Boys and Girls Club of Washington, D.C.; the Washington Literacy Council; and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation.

It is not a softball game; it is a hardball game. We play hardball in Washington. We get to play at the Washington Nationals' stadium, and we get to wear our home team uniforms and relive our youth. Most of us were just amateur baseball players in Little League and PONY League. We have a few guys that played at the college level. We go out there and we practice every day and give it our all. It is great comradery. We build great friendships over the years. Every year we would get about 9,000 or 10,000 people that actually come to the Washington Nationals' stadium and would raise about half a million dollars for the charities.

Well, this year, something happened that none of us ever dreamed when we got up every morning and went to the practice, and that was a shooter showed up that day at this park in Northern Virginia and started firing on the Republican baseball team.

Our team was practicing at the same time at a different location, and the first text I got on my phone during our batting practice was from one of my staff that asked me if I was okay. I couldn't understand why he was asking me that question, but about a second later news came on our telephones that there had been a shooter at the congressional baseball practice. It wasn't at first said which one it was. I knew it wasn't ours, so I knew it had to be the Republican practice.

When we called our players off the field, my thoughts immediately went to Joe Barton's son Jack, someone whom I have become good friends with over the years.

Jack is, what, Joe, 11 years old?

I think I have known him since he was much younger than that. Jack will come here on the floor during the baseball week, and he will come over and he will say hello to me, and I will try to see if I can get any secrets from Jack about his dad's strategy against the Democratic team. Jack would always say: ``I can't give you any information on that.'' I thought about him right away as we knew that the shots were being fired and that people were down.

We called our team into the dugout, and about the only thing we could think to do, Joe, was to sit down and to say a prayer that you were safe. I prayed that Jack was safe and that nobody was seriously hurt that day.

As we all know, our colleague and good friend Steve Scalise was seriously wounded and, to this day, is still

in the hospital. We want to send our prayers and best wishes to Steve that he recovers fully, and that he and his family can get back to a normal course of life.

But what a lot of people don't realize, had Steve Scalise not been there that day, his protective detail, Officers Bailey and Griner, wouldn't have been there that day either. Our friends on the Republican baseball team would have been pretty much defenseless against this guy with an assault rifle and an automatic pistol.

But to their credit, Officers Bailey and Griner--this gentleman started over at the third baseline, and our friends were seeking cover in the first base dugout, which was recessed, to get some protection. But as the shooter started to move towards home plate, these officers realized that he was going to have an angle into that dugout, and there could have been a lot of people killed. They came out from their cover and literally charged at this shooter, and both of them were hit. They continued to fire on this gunman even after they had been hit, and with the help of some Alexandria Police officers, too, brought this shooter down.

Thank God no one on the baseball team or staff--all the people on that field--lost their life that day. The shooter did, but no one else did.

When you sit down and think about what it takes to make that decision to put your life at risk for someone else, Officers Griner and Bailey knew that when they came out in the open like that and started shooting at this guy that they very well could lose their life trying to make sure nobody else did. But they did their job, and they did what they were trained to do.

Both of them got hurt and both are recovering from these bullet wounds, and they have out-of-pocket costs. Their healthcare doesn't cover all of their expenses. They are on administrative leave. They are not making the same pay they would make as a protective detail officer. There was no means for us to help them because of the way this fund was structured, only to make payments if an officer lost their life in the line of duty. I think Joe was correct when he said it was almost created specifically for the two officers that lost their lives.

We both came to realize that there needed to be a change in the law if we were going to be able to help Officers Bailey and Griner and, in the future, if an officer was seriously wounded in the line of duty, for payments to be made out of this fund. That is the purpose of this piece of legislation that we have over 100 cosponsors for. I believe every member of the Democratic and Republican baseball teams has signed on as cosponsors. I know a lot of other Members who weren't on the teams have also put their names to this because we want to make sure that Crystal and David know that we care about them.

I can tell you, the night of the baseball game, David Bailey was at our game, and if you would have seen the Members come up and hug him and express their appreciation for what he did, it was a very emotional moment. I know Crystal threw out the first pitch at the women's softball game.

Those are two heroic people. Those are two people that put their lives secondary to the lives of the people they are sworn to protect, and I think it is only fitting and proper that this body pass this piece of legislation that will allow us the opportunity to help make them whole again and to let the rest of our Capitol Police force know that they have our backs and that we are going to make sure that we have their backs,

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join my good friend Joe Barton and the entire Republican and Democratic baseball teams in supporting this piece of legislation. I hope the Senate moves swiftly on it and we can get this passed.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, first of all and foremost, thoughts, again, and prayers are out for Representative Steve Scalise. I can't wait and hope to see him walk through these doors. I wish him well and his family well.

An inside joke: I hope he has his beans in his pocket. Both being from Italian ancestry, we carry our beans with us, and I hope that he has them with him now for a speedy recovery.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3298 and applaud my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Michael F. Doyle) for helping to introduce this measure.

Officer Bailey and Officer Griner are American heroes. It has been widely reported that their swift action saved dozens of lives. Every Member of Congress owes them an enormous debt.

Every day, thousands of our Capitol Police officers protect Members, staff, and visitors in this building. You see some at the doors, others working with canine dogs, but there are also many officers you do not see. These officers are analyzing intelligence, working with law enforcement, and performing many other tasks that keep this place safe. Should any of these officers be seriously injured performing their duties, this bill would provide some measure of relief and peace of mind for their families.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Michael F. Doyle), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

My dad was a police officer, and I know what it is like when you get that phone call in the middle of the night, when he would call our house, and we would jump out of bed, even though he was just calling to find out whether I was home or not. But I know the hardship it can put on families.

On 9/11, when we were in our office buildings, and we were told to run and get out of our office buildings, our police officers were running in. Two days later, on this same floor, when there was a bomb scare and everybody cleared out, we were getting briefed, and we were clearing out running down those steps, our police officers--men and women--and first responders and firefighters were running in.

We need to let them know every day, not just today. This is a great thing we are doing here today for them. We need to let them know every day just how much we appreciate what they do.

When we come to work here, we are protected. We have dogs sniff our cars, and we go through metal detectors. Everybody goes through metal detectors. The Capitol Police come to work and leave their house every day with a vest, after they give their loved ones a kiss good-bye, the loved ones not knowing whether they are going to see them again.

So make no mistake about it, we need to let them know every single day how much we appreciate them and tell them please to stay safe.

Officer Bailey and Officer Griner saved many injuries and possibly many lives. We need to thank Officer Griner and Officer Bailey, and may God bless both of them.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I give a special thanks to my good friend from Illinois for his thoughtfulness in this bill.

Mr. Speaker, there are times in our lifetime that leave an impact on our lives and we never forget that place or time when we experienced the event or we heard of the event. For my father, it was the attack on Pearl Harbor. He always remembered that moment and the place and the feelings he had when he heard of the attack, which motivated him to join the United States Army. For my children, it was the attacks on America on September 11, 2001.

For me, Mr. Speaker, it is Flag Day, June 14, 2017, at a baseball practice. Not only will I remember that event, but I specifically remember where I was because I was there. Not only was I there, I was within proximity of 10 to 15 feet from the officers who acted so heroically. And still, Mr. Speaker, those images of that day are vivid in my mind. There isn't a day that goes by--and I am sure it is the same thing for the other players--that I don't relive a portion of that moment.

But although those images are vivid, time heals all wounds, and at some point the details will be obscured by the fog of war and other events in our lives. But I will never forget the heroic actions of those two officers that day. Even at the moment when Agent Griner took a bullet--which I believe was destined for me, or definitely in my direction--which took her down and out of the fight, Agent Bailey came to check on his partner, and immediately put himself even more in the line of fire to draw the fire away from us.

I can't express how heroic these officers acted. Some may say, well, that is

their duty, but what I experienced, Mr. Speaker, was above and beyond any call of duty, setting aside their own safety, their own persons, and putting themselves in a situation where death may have been imminent.

They were in a gunfight with someone with a more powerful, more accurate rifle, and all they had was a handgun. But they never let that dissuade them from protecting the lives of those of us. I would not be here today if it wasn't for those two agents.

This is the least that we could do, as has been expressed by many other speakers. The cost upon the families is tremendous when someone is injured in the line of duty. I believe that this is all fitting, and it is an expression of our appreciation for what they do for us day in and day out.

I hope and I pray that we never have an incident like that again, but as history tells us, something like this will happen again. And I just hope that we have agents like Agents Griner and Bailey on duty when that happens again.

There were many miracles on the field that day, and one of those miracles was having the two right agents there doing their job, just like all of our Capitol Police do every day.

I support this bill. I support the intent behind it, and I hope that we move forward with this in an expeditious manner and that we have a unanimous vote on this.

Madam President, I come to the floor to pass the Wounded Officers Recovery Act. This legislation comes after last month's terrible shooting at the Republican practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game.

As many of you already know, U.S. Capitol Police DPD Special Agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey were both wounded in the line of duty as they successfully fought off and subdued the gunman. I witnessed firsthand the unbelievable bravery and heroism of the Capitol Police on that morning. It is not at all an exaggeration to say that, if not for their actions, I probably would not be here today.

I and my colleagues certainly have a special place in our hearts for them and an appreciation for what they did on that fateful morning. It is a privilege to be able to help them out now. They had our backs, and now we need to have theirs.

This bill amends the policies of the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund to expand eligibility to include any U.S. Capitol Police employee who has been injured in the line of duty. This will enable Special Agents Griner and Bailey to access funds raised for victims of the congressional baseball practice shooting.

Previously, the fund only allowed donated funds to be given to the families of officers killed in the line of duty. I am hopeful all of my colleagues will agree that this issue should rise above any partisan wrangling.

Special Agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey have our gratitude, and we ought to be able to help them. I am grateful for their sacrifice. I hope we can speak with one voice in support of the brave men and women of the Capitol Police and pass this bill without delay.

I wish to thank the cosponsors here in the Senate, including Senator Paul, Senator Donnelly, Senator Murphy, and all of those who played in the congressional baseball game, also, in the House, the managers of the Republican and the Democratic teams respectively, Joe Martin and Mike Doyle.

The congressional baseball game is one of the best institutions in Congress, one of the most bipartisan institutions. We are able to raise a lot of money for needy causes as well as the Capitol Police. We want to make sure a lot of the money that was raised this year--a portion of that money--can go to these deserving individuals who helped us out in a very real way and saved our lives.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3298 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Flake amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.