Bob Beauprez

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and thank him for bringing this amendment to the floor and managing the time. I also would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the leadership of my colleague from Colorado (Mrs. Musgrave) on this issue. She has been a true champion, not only a champion inside this Chamber, but a champion for the values that I think a vast majority of Americans hold dear. For that she has paid what has already been recognized as a significant personal price. Again, I applaud her and I certainly admire her character and her tenacity.

Mr. Speaker, this debate seems to be framed by talking about what we are against. I think what we ought to be talking about, frankly, is what we are for. Too often in society, especially these days, it seems like we are against the very institutions that made this Nation great.

I see above your head, Mr. Speaker, the words ``in God we trust,'' and directly opposite you over my left shoulder is the medallion of the very first law giver, Moses. We all know where those laws came from, the very hand of God.

I think very often about the fact that we proudly profess that we are founded on Judeo-Christian principles. I think it is indisputable where those principles come from and what the origin of those principles is.

I believe that in the very beginning He created us, yes, all equal. The distinguished minority leader mentioned that a little bit ago, that we celebrate the fact that we were all created equal by our Creator, equal but different, and for a purpose. He showed us that purpose in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve. He showed us once again, and blessed that difference, at Cana, as my friend and colleague from Missouri just referenced, by Jesus performing his first miracle by blessing that wedding feast between a man and a woman.

I think there is a reason why marriage has always been such a sacred institution. I believe some things, some definitions in our society are absolute. Up isn't down, dark isn't daylight, black isn't white, fish isn't fowl, and marriage, since the beginning of time, as close as I can tell, has been between a man and a woman. If it was, indeed, good enough for our Creator, and it was indeed our Creator's plan, that we were created different for an absolute divine purpose, I think we best not be messing with His plan today.

It is important, I will disagree with my colleague from Missouri in this regard, it is very important that when a nation is, indeed, founded upon Judeo-Christian principles that we are willing to stand and define what we are for, lest we forget what we are about.

I strongly encourage the adoption of this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and the underlying legislation; in fact, in enthusiastic support. I am a cosponsor and have voted several times in this Chamber for permanent repeal of the death tax. This is not repeal, but it is relief, and it is significant relief.

I listened intently to the gentlewoman who spoke just before me. I found that a curious argument. I guess I see America and Americans a little bit differently. I think we ought to be incentivizing and stimulating and celebrating the achievement of the American dream every possible way we can.

I was in business myself, private business, all my life before I came to this Chamber, and as a community banker, I banked, I partnered with a lot of small business people. I celebrated their path to trying to create wealth and keep a business, especially a family business, going generation after generation.

I don't believe there is anything more egregious that government has ever done to disincent the achievement of the American dream than the death tax.

We tax everything you buy, everything you sell, you get to the end of the year, and if you happen to magically have something left, we want a piece of that. And then when you finally close your eyes for the last time, we are going to take our piece of what you have managed to accumulate through your lifetime. I think it is close to criminal, if not criminal.

Today we have an opportunity to provide some relief to those that do what so many come to this Nation for, to achieve the American dream. We have a chance to provide them some relief, some hope that what they worked all their life for, to accumulate something, maybe a business, maybe a family asset, pass it on to their children and their children's children, and that they might be able to do that without the threat of the Federal Government taking it away from them with excessive taxation.

It is with a great deal of pride and, frankly, a great deal of personal experience that I rise again in support of this rule and the underlying legislation. This is not, again, the permanent repeal that I think would be the best thing to do, but I think what we have before us is an opportunity to work with the other body to actually make law that will make a difference for Americans, American families, and our

constituents back home that we all support.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a remarkable gentleman from my district. Raymond Reinick was born in Kersey, CO in 1924. Growing up on his family's farm, he learned the value of hard work and developed a strong sense of pride in his country.

Raymond answered the call to duty when America entered WWII, joining the Navy and serving in the Pacific Theater aboard the USS Fond Du Lac as a Signalman Second Class. Having received the WWII Victory Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the Philippine Liberation Medal, Raymond was honorably discharged from the Navy and returned home to work on the family farm.

Not long after Raymond returned from the war, he married Bernadette and began a family. Raymond worked as a stationary engineer for Union Pacific Railroad for almost 40 years, supporting his wife and four children.

Raymond passed away in 2003 and was buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery along side his comrades from the war.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to stand before this body of Congress and recognize Raymond Reinick's loyal service to our grateful Nation.