Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Robert and Mrs. Rita Robbins, who have dedicated their lives to caring for Kentuckians as surgeon and surgical nurse, respectively, at Hardin Memorial Hospital.

Dr. and Mrs. Robbins met when they were working together at Hardin Memorial Hospital, and fittingly were married in the hospital's chapel. They have become fixtures in the Hardin County community through their work at the hospital and beyond.

Dr. and Mrs. Robbins embody the definition of servant leadership, and I am proud to honor them.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the retirement of Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. General McMaster has served in our military honorably for 34 years, and our country is better for it.

I first met General McMaster during our time at the United States Military Academy. General McMaster was my squad leader for Cadet Basic Training, known as ``Beast Barracks.'' General McMaster, being from Pennsylvania, was amused by my then-Alabama accent. He gave me the nickname Huckleberry, which is how I am still referred to by my West Point classmates.

General McMaster was an excellent leader as a senior cadet, and he went on to be a highly decorated soldier as a junior officer in the first Gulf War. As he moved up the ranks in the my, he continued to be an outstanding leader, commanding troops overseas in Iraq. I was pleased when President Trump nominated General McMaster to be National Security Advisor and think he did a fantastic job in that role.

I wholeheartedly agree with those who have called General McMaster the ``greatest solider of his generation.'' It was an honor to serve under his leadership at West Point and I wish him all the best in his retirement. I hope it includes a lot of time spent reading and enjoying the comfort of his famous Hawaiian shirts.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, this evening, we will hear from myself and a colleague from Tennessee, and he is joining me today to talk about how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has benefited our States.

In my congressional district, Kentucky's Second, I have heard from constituents who have seen more money in their paychecks and from businesses that have been able to grow and pass along the benefits of tax reform directly to their employees.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the standard deduction for both individuals and couples. For the 75 percent of residents in Kentucky's Second District who take the standard deduction, this is an automatic tax cut. Additionally, individuals in every tax bracket are paying lower rates.

When I visited Owensboro in February, I met Cheri and Ray Middletown, who own On Time Fab, a small business that provides fabrication services for agricultural, industrial, and commercial productions. Cheri and Ray shared with me that, during the first week of the implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, each of the 20 employees of On Time Fab took home more pay as a result of tax reform.

One employee took home as much as $56 a week and more than $200 a month. A single dad working for On Time Fab is bringing home an extra $40 each week. Some thought there was a mistake in their paychecks because they are able to keep so much of their hard-earned money, and $40 a week is over $160 a month.

By cutting the corporate tax rate to make the U.S. competitive globally, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has given businesses the opportunity to pass along savings to their customers. For example, residents of 48 States, plus the District of Columbia, are seeing their utility bills go down because of tax reform.

In Kentucky, the Public Service Commission has ordered investor-owned utilities to track their tax savings and to reduce rates for hundreds of thousands of Kentucky customers. In fact, the Public Service Commission has already announced that Kentucky Utilities' and Louisville Gas & Electric's residential electric customers will see their average monthly bills decreased by 6 percent.

Atmos Energy, which serves western Kentucky, announced in March that it will be cutting the average residential bill by just over 3 percent. Other savings from tax reform will fund infrastructure upgrades across the Commonwealth. Companies in Kentucky have been able to expand their operation because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Owl's Head Alloys in my hometown of Bowling Green recently announced a $3 million expansion which would create 17 new jobs, bringing their total employment in the Second District to nearly 100 good-paying jobs. When I visited their facility in March, Owl's Head owner and president, David Bradford, told me that the economic outlook resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act helped lead to their decision to expand.

This is exactly why we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: to give American businesses the confidence to grow and expand right in our communities, and to help individual taxpayers keep more of their money. Some might say that an extra $200 a month is just crumbs. For hardworking Kentucky taxpayers, the extra money can go toward a car payment or a mortgage. It can help pay for a child's braces or even for regular expenses like groceries.

The bottom line is that, with more expendable income in their pockets, Americans across the country have more freedom to choose how they spend their hard-earned money. A typical family of four earning $75,000 can expect to pay $2,000 less in taxes this year compared to last year.

I was proud to support the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and I am proud to report that tax reform is making a real difference in the lives of Kentuckians.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have a neighbor to the south of me here today to talk about how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is having a big effect on the lives of not just Kentuckians but all Americans-- particularly Kentucky and Tennessee--so I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Kustoff), my good friend from suburban Memphis, which is one of the great cities in our area, to talk about the effects of the tax cuts in Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Tennessee for yielding back. As he said, Tennessee has seen the benefits from tax reform. Kentucky is seeing the benefits of tax reform and the opportunity for people to move into prosperity as they expand opportunity.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in April, unemployment was at 3.9 percent across the country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that 164,000 jobs were added across the country in April, raising the total since our tax reform bill was signed into law to nearly 800,000 people.

Businesses are confident in our economy because of tax reform. Most businesses are telling me that they are looking for workers, looking for people to have the opportunity to move forward. One of the great reasons that we are trying to do some of the policies that were talked about during the last hour is that we want to see people have the opportunity to work, to go from poverty to prosperity, from dependence to independence.

We want people to have the opportunity to move forward, and a growing economy will allow them to do so because these people are needed in the workforce. They are wanted. They are needed, and I will guarantee you, when we have people in the workforce, they are going to be better off than if they are not. So we are looking forward to moving forward with some of the issues that were talked about earlier.

But tonight we have heard stories about Kentuckians; we have heard stories about Tennesseans who have benefited from tax reform. Hardworking taxpayers are seeing more money in their paychecks. Companies are expanding and creating jobs. Businesses are passing along the benefits of tax cuts to their customers and to their employees, handing out bonuses and raises. We are seeing these stories in our own States and across the country.

This is exactly what we expected when we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and I am glad to see many of our communities benefiting from this bill. I want to thank my friend from Tennessee for sharing his stories from Tennessee, as I was sharing my stories from Kentucky, and I thank him for joining me tonight to discuss the importance of tax reform.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 42 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, May 8, 2018, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Ben Quinn, Sr., from Glasgow, Kentucky, for his induction into the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Hall of Distinction.

Ben graduated from the College of Engineering in 1966, and has over 50 years of experience in civil engineering. Thirty-five years ago, he started his own company, American Engineers, Inc., with only two employees, in Glasgow. Now, American Engineers has over 100 employees in Kentucky and Georgia.

American Engineers has worked on several projects in Kentucky's Second District, including the William H. Natcher Parkway, the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, and the Western Kentucky University baseball field.

Next week is Small Business Week, and I cannot think of a better example of building a small business from the ground up than Ben, his wife, Dianne, and his family. Ben is an outstanding member of our community, and I am proud to recognize his achievements.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the subcommittee for organizing this event.

On behalf of the 1,419 Kentuckians who died of an opioid overdose in 2016, and the countless more who are currently suffering from opioid addiction, I rise today in support of legislation to combat our Nation's opioid epidemic.

Everywhere I go in Kentucky's Second District, I hear from people who have felt the impact of the opioid crisis. The range of people falling victim to opioid use disorder is vast--from babies born with opioid withdrawal, to adults of all ages and backgrounds, even students, brothers and sisters, moms and dads. It doesn't matter if someone becomes addicted to opioids after they have sprained an ankle or following major surgery--anyone who has been prescribed opioid painkillers could be at risk, and we need to find a way to help the thousands of people who have, in fact, become addicted.

I recently introduced two pieces of legislation to combat our widespread opioid crisis. The first is the Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act of 2018. I was proud to introduce this bipartisan bill with the Health Subcommittee ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gene Green), the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), and the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Ben Ray Lujan).

This bill addresses the current lack of comprehensive treatment options available to opioid use disorder patients. Currently, there is a wide range of treatment options from faith-based abstinence programs to FDA-approved medications, but not everyone has access to the specific treatments they need.

Patients usually seek treatment from a facility convenient to them in their own community or from a facility that is covered by their insurance. However, most facilities only offer a single type of treatment, which may or may not work for each individual patient. The Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act would provide grant money to help create treatment centers where every FDA-approved option is available to each patient.

These centers would also include intake services and help with reentering the community and provide data to the Department of Health and Human Services so that other treatment centers can learn and apply best practices to provide more patients with comprehensive care.

I also introduced the bipartisan Maternal Opioid Treatment, Health, Education, and Recovery Act, known as the MOTHER Act, with Congressman Ben Ray Lujan. Opioid addiction is a serious risk to anyone's health, but it can even be more harmful and life-threatening for a pregnant woman and her child. This bill would help healthcare providers better treat pregnant women with opioid use disorder as well as babies who are born experiencing opioid withdrawal.

The MOTHER Act increases education about neonatal abstinence syndrome, which sadly affects babies whose mothers suffer from opioid use disorder, and the bill also provides resources for pregnant mothers and caregivers. It highlights the need for responsible pain management for expectant mothers.

Our Nation is in the middle of combating a serious opioid epidemic, and all of us on both sides of the aisle can agree on the need to act with urgency on all fronts. I was proud to join with my Democratic colleagues to introduce two bipartisan bills that would address important aspects of the opioid crisis. I urge my colleagues to support the Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act and the MOTHER Act. I thank the subcommittee chairman for organizing this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my sincere thanks to Steve Miller of Shelby County, Kentucky, who is retiring after nine years of service as a field representative with my office.

My friendship with Steve began when I was first elected to the Kentucky State Senate. Steve worked for the Senate leadership office, and I quickly learned how much everyone loved Steve. He built friendships quickly and had a deep knowledge of legislation and policy, so when I was elected to serve the Second District in the U.S. House of Representatives, I knew I wanted Steve on my team.

Steve rose up to the challenge and immediately developed a reputation for serving constituents effectively. He understood early on that service transcends ideological differences. Once, when Steve had an introductory meeting with a local official, he was rebuffed because the official was of a different party. Steve chuckled and explained that he wasn't there to be political--he was there to serve that community and be a resource to that official. A great relationship began in fifteen minutes and endures still.

For the past nine years, I've heard my constituents tell similar stories of appreciation for Steve. He wakes up each day thinking about who he can introduce me to as he hits the road to visit the constituents of Kentucky's Second District. I will miss Steve, but I wish him and his wife Donna good health and good times with their family during retirement.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 7 of rule XX, I move the call of the House.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 849, the Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2017.

The Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, was created in the Affordable Care Act to reduce per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending. If a spending target is exceeded, cuts must be made, and the HHS Secretary is directed to implement the proposals made by this 15- person board automatically unless Congress affirmatively acts to alter the proposals or to discontinue automatic implementation of the proposals. This board has not yet been formed, but the statute requires the HHS Secretary to come up with the required reductions instead.

Medicare is crucial for our Nation's seniors to see their doctors, and the program's viability must be protected. There is no question that Medicare must be modernized in order to continue for future generations, but IPAB is not the right approach, and a bipartisan group of my colleagues agree that IPAB is not the answer to fixing Medicare's shortfalls.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Costello), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

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

Mr. Speaker, one, this IPAB effort is bipartisan. We have even heard on the floor both sides of the aisle support passage of the bill. It has been bipartisan.

First, a couple of things. On the value-based payments--which I think is the direction we need to go to rein in the costs and make sure we have sustainable programs, but the IPAB's annual short-term focus savings provision would affect Medicare and the wider health system in unpredictable ways with potentially many negative unintended consequences by doubling down on the traditional practice of squeezing payment rates in order to slow spending with no meaningful eye to how these changes impact long-term incentives--the IPAB could work at cross purposes to broaden reform that would base Medicare payments on quality and value.

On the offset, we did offset CHIP and the community health centers. We know that money is going to be spent. We know that when we authorize it, it is going to be spent. We believe it is going to be spent wisely. That is why we are moving forward with these bills.

The IPAB has not been constituted, and repealing it should not have to be offset since it has not spent any money nor been charged yet with finding any savings. The IPAB trigger has never been hit. The CBO estimates that the IPAB would be triggered in 2023, 2025, and 2027. But by their own admission, and I quote from the report, ``Given the uncertainty that surrounds these projections, it is possible such authority would be invoked in other years,'' or we could also assume possibly never at all.

The CBO estimate also has to assume the level of cuts required by the amount Medicare is spending that exceeds the trigger. The CBO also then has to speculate on how reductions made in any one year would impact the trigger in future years, further laying assumption upon guesswork. As the CBO notes in their estimate, the estimate represents a broad range of possible effects.

The CBO admits they do not know if the IPAB will be triggered or what policies they might pursue if activated. Some of their assumptions are one-sided bets that may or may not achieve savings, and the CBO must further speculate on the probabilities associated with such variations.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I believe the IPAB will not be effective providing real solutions for Medicare solvency. It contributes disproportionately little to the projected cost savings needed in Medicare, but it has the potential to hurt seniors' access to care. Fundamentally, I believe it is a constitutional affront to the legislative branch.

The IPAB decisions don't come to Congress to be approved or disapproved. We can undo the IPAB decisions if we have dollar-for- dollar replacement, but that could even be blocked by a minority vote in the Senate.

So I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 849, to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and I hope there will continue to be bipartisan support for this important legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my sincere thanks to Emily Buckman, who will be moving on from my office at the end of this week to serve at the United States Department of Agriculture. What is a loss for my office is a major gain for the administration, and I wish her all the best.

Emily grew up in Marion County, Kentucky, where her parents still operate their family's farm. Emily began her Washington, D.C., career during a summer internship with my predecessor. She came back to D.C. after graduating from Campbellsville University to intern for my office. She came on as staff in 2010 and has been promoted several times. Emily has been dedicated to the Second District of Kentucky ever since then, and her commitment to serving her fellow Kentuckians will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Daniel T. Curry, a constituent of mine who tragically passed away on September 6, 2017. Daniel was born in Green County in my district and later moved to my hometown of Bowling Green, where he was the director of the Kentucky Legal Aid Benefits Counseling Program.

Daniel was a friend to everyone. As director of the Benefits Counseling Program, he helped countless Kentuckians receive their federal and state benefits. He worked with my office on several occasions, assisting with many casework inquiries that my office received. There was no constituent he would not try to help. In addition to his work at the Kentucky Legal Aid Benefits Counseling Program, he served as an adjunct professor at Western Kentucky University, served as a docent for Riverview at Hobson Grove, presented at the Bowling Green-Warren County Bar Association, was an advocate for elder abuse prevention, and participated in community theater.

Daniel touched many lives in Bowling Green and the surrounding counties. I send my prayers to Daniel's family and community during this time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Matsui) and I have worked on a lot of issues together, and it is always a pleasure to work with her and to move important things forward. I know a lot of times you see a lot of big issues need to be addressed, but a lot of things are getting done here in the House.

Today, once we pass this bill, it goes to the President. It is coming back from the Senate, so it goes to the President.

My interest in this is when I was in the General Assembly of Kentucky, the Governor had a big proposal dealing with children in the first 3 years of their life and was looking at a lot of money to be spent. And I remember doing research on a site. I found a report from a doctor from Vanderbilt, and I went down and met with her. So there has been a lot of debate on the research of some of the things that we were looking at moving forward.

She said: In normal stimulation, a child is going to rise to their ability.

But she did say this: If you took a healthy baby and put it into a closet with no light, and it couldn't hear, and pull it out 3 years later--which obviously you couldn't do that--it wouldn't be able to see and it would never be able to develop its hearing because the brain does start adjusting at a young age.

That is why you can learn a language far better as a child than you can as an adult.

So I was driving back, and part of what Governor Patton of Kentucky had proposed was screening, eyesight screening, and early childhood hearing detection as part of the bill. So a lot of us were saying: ``What do you do with mandates?''

I was driving back, and I remember thinking, well, if you were born and you can't see well, if you were born and you can't hear well, then isn't that the same thing as being put in a dark closet? Because if you don't figure out till you show up to school that you can't hear well, then you have lost those first 3 to 5 years of ability and lost language ability for a lifetime.

So for the small amount of money that it actually costs, we passed and authorized, in Kentucky, mandated screenings. One is for eyesight, which my son got caught in going into kindergarten. That is the first time you can really test them, when we gather them, but you can test newborns at birth. If you can find a newborn at birth that has a hearing impairment and get it corrected, it will develop just like all the other healthy children, so why not do it?

So I got to Washington, D.C. It is a national program. It is not something I came up with. It was authored before, so we are here today to reauthorize it.

I just want to point out this program is a success. In 2000, 40 percent of newborns were screened for hearing loss. That number rose to over 86 percent in 2011. In 2015, CDC has reported that roughly 97 percent of infants are screened for hearing loss. Think of the difference that makes in these children's lives when we catch them.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congresswoman Matsui. I want to thank Senator Kaine from Virginia and Senator Portman from Ohio for taking the bipartisan lead in the Senate. I thank them for their hard work.

I am proud to say, when we take this vote today, it doesn't go back to the Senate. It goes to the President, and we look forward to his signature and continuing this in moving forward. I have been honored to be part of this.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Burgess for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from votes yesterday due to my participation in a health care listening session in Lexington, Kentucky, with Vice President Mike Pence. As vice chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, this was another great opportunity for me to hear firsthand from Kentucky's small business owners about their experiences providing health insurance for their employees. Had I been present, I would have voted on Roll Call No. 345, Yea; Roll Call No. 346, Yea; Roll Call No. 347, Yea; Roll Call No. 348, Aye; Roll Call No. 349, Yea; Roll Call No. 350, No; Roll Call No. 351, No; Roll Call No. 352, Aye.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of my constituent, Nicky Hayden, an international motorcycle racer who tragically passed away following a bicycle accident in Italy last month at the age of thirty-five. Nicky, known around the world as the ``Kentucky Kid,'' was a beloved member of the Owensboro community.

Nicky was riding by age three, and he followed in his older brother's footsteps to begin a career in racing when he was just sixteen years old and attending Owensboro Catholic High School. He won his first AMA Grand National Championship in 1999. In 2002, he shared a podium with both of his brothers, Tommy and Roger Lee at the Springfield IT race. Eventually he joined the Honda Repsol MotoGP team in 2003 and won the MotoGP world title in 2006. He continued to race in international competitions in the years that followed, and was competing in the Motul Italian Round in May before he passed away.

In his personal life, Nicky was a son, a brother, and a fiance. And he always considered Owensboro home, traveling back and forth from there to his international races.

Nicky's favorite bible verse was Proverbs 14:23: ``All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk only leads to poverty.'' While the community continues mourning our loss, we can all be grateful that we were lucky enough to have shared this earth with Nicky. I am grateful for his passion for life and his dedication to his family and hometown community of Owensboro. We will miss him.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to talk about my good friend, Senator Bunning, a mentor to me. I first came across Senator Bunning when I was a young boy watching baseball and watching him pitch for the Detroit Tigers and for the Philadelphia Phillies. But I really got to know them--and when I say ``them,'' it is because most of us from Kentucky cannot talk about Jim Bunning without saying Jim and Mary. It is just Jim and Mary. They were grammar school sweethearts. I think the only people they ever dated were each other.

It was wonderful to see Mary the other day, unfortunately under these circumstances, but a wonderful lady.

I have a couple of stories. When I first thought I might run for public office for the State senate--and my now 23-year-old was 5, and I had a 3-year-old son--I went to Oldham County, Kentucky, to meet Jim Bunning. And, of course, you show up, there is Jim and Mary. And she said: ``Are you going to be our candidate in the 32nd District?''

And I said: ``Well, I just don't know. I am really concerned about it. I have got a young family.''

And she looked at me and she said: ``Young man, I have raised nine kids''--I think at that point 20-something grandkids--``we have done politics, we have done baseball, city council.'' She went through a whole list of things. And I will never forget she said: ``You are worried about your family because of the experiences that you have had, and you want them to have the same kind of experiences, but you have got to take your family and make your family experiences. Our kids have gotten to do things no other kid has gotten to do because of the positions and the things that we have done as a family.''

You know, when you start to run for office, you kind of want to talk yourself out of it. So I will never forget driving back home convinced that, yes, I am going to run for this office. I walked in, and the first thing my wife said is: ``Guess what. We are going to have our third child.''

I guarantee you, if I had not had that conversation with Mary Bunning, and after my wife telling me during the time of that decision we are going to have another one--now our 19-year-old--I wouldn't have moved forward.

My other story is Senator Bunning took me under his wing. I won my first race by 130 votes out of 27,000 cast. Jim Bunning was running in a fight for his life for the U.S. Senate. Bob Dole comes to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to have a rally for Senator Bunning, and he wanted me to speak. Well, then we see people around town like this that are operatives for our parties, and this one guy says: ``No. No State, no local candidates. Only Federal candidates can speak.''

I had to leave the podium because this young, 25-year-old guy said that. And Jim Bunning looks over--and they are all there for his rally--he says: ``If he is not speaking, I am not speaking.''

So the next thing I know, I got on the agenda. They said: ``Yeah. Three minutes.''

So I had my 3-minute talk.

The final thing I want to say is that one of my favorite Jim Bunning stories is he did not like to sign baseballs made in China. That was just his thing. He didn't want to sign a baseball made in China, which I didn't know that, but I had two major league baseballs for my two oldest kids to get them signed. He was going to be in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I show up there. And on the way, my youngest daughter, which we didn't think even cared, started crying. Well, to buy a real major league baseball in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the last minute is not very easy to do. So we went by Walmart, picked up just a little official league ball. And I walked to the restaurant and I hand Jim the first ball. He signs it. The second one, he signs it. The third one-- and it is in my office today, because I may have the only one--he picks it up and he points to the ``China'' imprinted on the ball and just gives me this look like only he could give. And fortunately Mary was there, and she says: ``Jim, you are signing that ball for that little girl.'' So I now have it in my office in the Rayburn building, a Jim Bunning baseball that says ``Made in China'' on it. It is something I cherish.

His granddaughter has interned in my office, and she is a chip off the old block, both her grandmother and grandfather. During the spring, we were getting a lot of phone calls in our office because of some of the actions here on the House floor. She was wonderful and mature beyond her years at 20 or 21 years old.

So the old right-hander, as Mr. Hal Rogers said, is somebody we miss, is somebody that is important to me, somebody that leaves a fantastic legacy in Washington, in Major League Baseball. But far more important, if you had the opportunity to go to the funeral home, just looking at those nine children, and with over 30-something grandchildren and now into the great-grandchildren, that is his legacy. His legacy is his family, and there is no other way he would want it from that first few days in grammar school when he first met his wife, Mary, till today. It is just a legacy that all of us should strive to have.

We love him. We are going to miss him. And we certainly love his wife, Mary, and his family.