Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Clinton Lorenz for being named to the IFCA Class 3A junior All-State team.

Clinton started as a lineman for my alma mater, the Greensburg High School Pirates, as a junior. On defense, he had 37 total tackles and was a consistent force on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

I want to congratulate him on an outstanding season and for representing himself with class throughout the season. I ask the entire 6th Congressional District to join me in congratulating Clinton for his dedication, execution, and excellence this season.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Pete Hood for his contribution to our state.

Pete has had a long and distinguished career working as a Human Resources executive for the United Parcel Service (UPS) in Indiana. Pete is set to retire at the end of this year. I would like to congratulate him on a long career and wish him all the best in his retirement.

Throughout Pete's career, he has been a champion for UPS's culture and values. Pete will consistently tell you that UPS is a unique company with its own way of doing things. Deliberately. Precisely. Efficiently. With Integrity. To me, Pete embodies those principles.

Over the years, Pete and I have become friends. Pete has taken me on tours of several different UPS facilities around the state, and he even convinced me to wear the iconic brown uniform and ride around in a delivery truck. I've enjoyed the time we have gotten to spend together and have appreciated his wise counsel and advice.

I would like to thank Pete for his friendship and support of my work in Congress. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Dogger Dickey for his contribution to our state and our District.

Dogger works for Hillenbrand Capital Partners and has been making the trains run on time for years. He has always been involved in Indiana politics and has continuously volunteered his time and resources toward improving the quality of life for his fellow Hoosiers. It has been an honor to work with him.

On a personal note, Dogger was among my earliest and most vocal supporters. He is a loyal confidant and wise adviser. I want to thank him for his friendship and support of my work in Congress. I wish Dogger continued success in all that God has planned for him and his family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Ryan Hou for his contribution to the City of Columbus and our state.

Ryan is a hard worker and has had an incredible career as a job creator in Indiana. He started LHP Engineering Solutions in 2001, which provides engineering and technology integration services for major U.S. corporations. The company has offices all over the world and employs more than 100 Hoosiers in Columbus. Ryan is also very engaged in the community and has volunteered his time and resources for countless community efforts.

On a personal note, Ryan is a loyal friend, trusted advisor and longtime supporter of my work in Congress. I will always appreciate Ryan's positive spirit and wise counsel. If you are having a tough time, you can count on Ryan to remind you of the extraordinary opportunity each day brings.

I want to thank Ryan for his friendship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Andy Morrison for his contribution to our state.

After a distinguished career as a high-ranking executive at Wellpoint, Andy now serves as the CEO of Fulcrum Sports, which produces high quality performance nutrition solutions for athletes. Outside of work, Andy has been dedicated to improving the community in which he lives. It has been an honor to work with him in advancing our shared Republican principles.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Andy for nearly a decade. He has been a good friend, wise advisor and loyal supporter during my entire tenure in Congress.

I want to thank Andy for his friendship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Patti Coons for her contribution to our state.

Patti is an institution in Indiana politics and has been helping promote Republican principles for decades. She is a retired senior executive for the Decorating Den Interiors franchise. It has been a pleasure to work with Patti, and our state is better off today because of her extraordinary leadership and service. I

On a personal note, Patti is among my favorite people who I have met on this journey in Congress. She is smart, strong, honest and loyal. With Patti, you always know where you stand. She is a great friend to my wife Jennifer, and we both appreciate all that Patti has done to help Jennifer with the Congressional Club.

I will be forever grateful for Patti's friendship and support of my work in Congress. I wish her continued success in all that God has planned for her family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Robert Kersey for his contribution to our state.

Bob is the President of American Lawn Mower Company, which has been dedicated to creating jobs in Indiana for years. His company is the only domestic manufacturer of reel mowers in the United States and commands a considerable share of the market. With a manufacturing facility in Shelbyville and an office in Muncie, American Lawn Mower Company is critical to the economy of the 6th Congressional District.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Bob for nearly two decades. He is a loyal friend, trusted advisor and longtime supporter of my work in Congress. Most importantly, Bob is a man of faith who I greatly admire. I want to thank Bob for his friendship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, December 17, 2018.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to greet the House today. My speech today is intended to be my farewell to this Chamber after serving in this Chamber, proudly representing Indiana's Sixth Congressional District, over the last 6 years.

I rise today at a time of tragedy in Indiana's Sixth Congressional District. At Dennis Intermediate School in Richmond, Indiana, there was a shooting today. On behalf of everyone in Indiana's Sixth Congressional District, I

would like to express our condolences for the deaths that occurred there. Our hearts, prayers, and minds go out to all the families and kids in the school who are there.

This is, frankly, an epidemic, Mr. Speaker, in our country. It is a great tragedy. Every kid in America ought to be able to go to school where they feel safe. We need to do more with school security and more to handle mental health challenges. We need to do more to repair the moral fabric of this society, Mr. Speaker, so that our kids can go to school and feel safe.

Now to my final greeting to this Chamber and to the people of Indiana's Sixth Congressional District.

I today rise first to say thank you and also to provide maybe some thoughts about a compass forward.

First, and most importantly, after both 6 years here in this Chamber, time serving in the Indiana General Assembly, and working very hard over most of the last two decades for the people of Indiana, I want to say thank you, first, to God, who gave our family great peace and strength through all of this time and all of these incredible journeys together.

Secondly, I say thank you to my family. When you serve in something like the United States Congress, you tend to have yard signs that have your name on it, but it takes a family, a team of people, to help make this happen.

I want to thank my wife, Jennifer, for all of her patience and incredible wisdom throughout our service and time together.

I want to thank my kids--Emma, Ava, and Hudson--for all their incredible support and inspiration.

Certainly, I want to thank my mother, Chris, who raised my brother and me on her own when I was a kid growing up in Greensburg, Indiana. She recently retired from the Delta Faucet factory and has been an inspiration to me throughout my life.

I want to thank my father, who certainly has shown love and has been rooting for me all along the way; my grandparents who are a great inspiration to us as well; my brother, Rich; and just so many others.

I want to thank my team, two of my teammates, the two real leaders of our team. They don't know I am going to give them a shout-out today, but Doug Menorca and Amy Burke, I thank them for all their incredible work and the dozens and dozens and dozens of people who have been a part of our efforts. Again, it takes a team to get this work done.

I want to thank the people of Indiana and the people of Indiana's Sixth Congressional District because there is no way to serve in this job unless people select you to give you the opportunity to do so.

Every day that we have served in this job, I have tried to do my best to represent the values and beliefs of the people of Indiana's Sixth Congressional District and to the best of our ability discern and provide wisdom to do what is best for the United States of America.

I have also been somebody who has been very blessed with a lot of mentors. Almost a generation ago, Hillary Clinton used an African proverb to entitle a book. She used the proverb, ``It takes a village to raise a child.'' Unfortunately, that phrase became a bit of a partisan volleyball because the reality is it takes a family to raise a child.

I was blessed to have a great mother who helped lead our family. But my brother and I were like so many others. We had teachers, ball coaches, friends, and families from the church, and neighbors and friends along the way--mentors--who helped lead me and helped build a future and make my career possible. There are too many of those folks to name, but they know who they are, and I want to say thank you.

The last thing I want to talk about is a little bit about this Chamber and, most importantly, those four words that stand there above the Speaker, the phrase, ``In God We Trust,'' because I speak to this floor today and I leave this Chamber at a time of great political turmoil in our country. There are a lot of folks frustrated across America, and, frankly, they are frustrated for good reason.

I grew up in America. When I was a kid growing up in a small town in the 1970s and 1980s, I can tell you I never had one doubt that, if I worked hard and I stayed focused, I could have an opportunity to do great things in this country. When I was little, my mom thought that. She taught my brother and me that. As I got old enough, I decided I guess I believed that, too, and I knew it to be true every moment of my life.

We now in this great country and in this Chamber are debating issues because too often there are Americans who don't believe that anymore. There are kids who grow up in this country and worry whether they will ever have a chance to succeed.

It is not right. Often these folks feel failed by the institutions of this great country. The truth is in many ways these institutions are failing. Too often we are not able to solve the big challenges of this Nation in this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker, you have an ever-growing Federal bureaucracy that, frankly, at times is far more concerned about self-perpetuating its own self-interests than it is in delivering for the good of the American people. I do want to assure the American people and the people of Indiana's Sixth Congressional District, though, the problem is not the basic decency of the people in this Chamber.

I came to Congress like a whole lot of other people figuring that the wisdom of any constituent in the Sixth Congressional District was a whole lot smarter than most of the people who were here, because if these folks were as smart as they should be, then a whole lot of problems would already have been solved. What I found when I came here is I haven't met one person serving in this Chamber who is trying to hurt America.

I have met a lot of people who may have a very different political viewpoint than me, who may have a different set of values, and who may believe we need to take the country in a different direction than I believe, but, really, probably the most remarkable thing I found in my 6 years in this Chamber is that the vast majority of people I have gotten to spend time with across the aisle and in our own caucus wake up every day, make great sacrifice, and love their country trying to do better.

Mr. Speaker, I am not smart enough to tell you what we are going to do to fix many of the challenges in this Chamber, but I think the basic answer is this: We have to empower the American people by better empowering their individual Member of Congress to push this body and make things happen.

I fought for that some and had some small victories in my time in Congress. My hope for my colleagues, as I leave this place, is that they will have more success in trying to drive a process that makes that happen.

But beyond that--I have said this often in my own district, and I will say it here again as I start to leave this Chamber--I think we need to have a little bit of humility about where we are as a country, because I will concede to you that these are tough times. As the old Harry Truman line once said:

A recession is when your neighbor loses their job, a

depression is when you lose yours.

Mr. Speaker, if you are struggling today, those struggles are real, and I do not want to diminish them. But I also think it is important to remember that this is a nation that has been through great trials before. This is a nation that has been through a Revolutionary War, a Civil War, a Great Depression, a couple of World Wars, and the Cold War. In recent years, we have fought the battle on terror.

We have been through tough challenges before, and every time we have risen, as a nation, to meet them. I believe the biggest reason why is, again, these four words above the Speaker's rostrum there: ``In God We Trust.''

It has been an incredible honor over the last 6 years to bring literally hundreds of people into this Chamber to see this hallowed Hall of public policy debate. Every time I have come into this Chamber, I have pointed to those four words.

You see, Mr. Speaker, those four words represent the essence of the American promise. We spend a lot of time in this Hall talking about the importance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Do you know what?

That debate is merited. It is incredibly important, the Constitution and

the Bill of Rights. But, frankly, I don't think we spend enough time talking about where those rights come from.

I believe the most important document that this Nation has ever seen is the first document that founded it, the Declaration of Independence, where it says, in the second paragraph: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men''--and we now come to understand, of course, men and women--``are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.''

Because those rights come from our creator, they are inalienable, and they cannot be taken from you.

Every nation before us had a different point of view. They believed that rights somehow came from God to a ruler, who then just decided what privileges he was going to bestow out to you.

That is not what we believe in America. We believe ``In God We Trust,'' that our rights come from God.

Ronald Reagan said, a couple of generations ago:

We are one Nation under God. And if we ever forget it, we

will be one Nation gone under.

I think, as we look as a Nation at this time, and we look for a compass to drive us forward, we don't need to look any further than those four words.

America is not like any other Nation that came before us. We are a Nation that has been blessed time and time and time again. In moments of crisis, the right leaders have emerged. The American people have rallied, and we have done what every other generation before us has done: left this Nation better than we found it.

There is no reason to believe that we can't do that again. All we have to do is go back to founding principles and stand for the things that have always made this Nation great.

I am too competitive of a person to tell you that I am glad that I didn't win my last election and that I am now leaving this Chamber. Of course, I would love to be serving in the United States Senate. That is not what God had in store for our family. That is not what the people of Indiana decided would happen.

But I want to tell you this: I leave this Chamber optimistic and happy. I am optimistic for this incredible country and the amazing future we have in store. I am optimistic for the Messer family and all the great adventures we have yet to come.

I am grateful that a little kid who grew up in a single-parent family in Greensburg, Indiana, had an opportunity to serve this Nation in a Chamber like this one. I want to tell every little boy and girl who is growing up in America today: You can, too. Just remember, in God we trust.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Jim Morris for his contribution to our state.

Jim is an institution in our state and has devoted his life to serving his community. Jim has worked in a variety of capacities over the years, including for IWC Resources Corporation, Indianapolis Water Company, Boy Scouts of America, Riley Children's Foundation, Indiana University Foundation, U.S. Olympic Committee, United Nations World Food Programme and Pacers Sports and Entertainment.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Jim for nearly two decades. To me, Jim has been a close friend, trusted advisor and loyal supporter during my entire tenure in Congress. Simply put: there is no one I admire more than Jim Morris.

I want to thank Jim for his friendship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Al and Kathy Hubbard for their contribution to our state and country.

Al has had an incredible career, serving our state and country in a variety of roles over the years. He served as the Chair of the Indiana Republican Party, the Director of the National Economic Council, and founded E&A Industries. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Simon Property Group, the Heritage Group, the Lumina Foundation and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. It has been an honor to work with him in advancing our shared Republican principles.

Kathy is an accomplished education reformer who has made a tremendous impact on our state and nation. She serves on the board of directors of several organizations, including DePauw University, the Indianapolis Zoo and Choice Charitable Trust. She also was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the J. William Fulbright Board.

On a personal note, I have had the pleasure of knowing Al and Kathy Hubbard for nearly two decades. Al and Kathy have been good friends, loyal supporters and trusted advisors during my entire tenure in Congress. Al and I are also proud alums of Vanderbilt University.

I want to thank Al and Kathy for their friendship, mentorship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish them continued success in all that God has planned for their family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Bob Courtney for his contribution to Jefferson County, and our state.

Bob is a positive leader and hard worker who has been a great advocate as County Chair in Jefferson County. Over the years, he has worked tirelessly to advance Republican values and to improve the quality of life for Hoosiers living in Southern Indiana. He has also had an incredible career in the private sector, working as an investment banker to provide the necessary capital to help employers grow and create Hoosier jobs. It has been an honor to work with him. Our state and Jefferson County are better off today because of his extraordinary leadership and service.

On a personal note, Bob is my friend who I could always count on for a positive word and consistent support. I want to thank Bob for his friendship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Andrew Forrester for his contribution to Jefferson County and the City of Madison.

Andrew is a positive leader and hard worker who has served the City of Madison with honor and distinction for years. As the City Director of Community Relations, Andrew has been responsible for representing the City and advancing efforts to improve the quality of life for Madison residents. It has been an honor to work with him.

On a personal note, Andrew is my friend who I could always count on for a positive word and consistent support. Andrew and I are both proud alums of Wabash College, too. I want to thank Andrew for his friendship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a longtime friend and colleague, Jim Kittle, for his service to our state.

Jim is an institution in Indiana and is widely regarded as one of the state's top political minds. Jim was the ``founding father'' of the political movement that first elected Mitch Daniels and revolutionized our state. He's also an extraordinarily successfully businessman and has grown Kittle's Furniture into one of the largest furniture companies in the country. There's no doubt that I wouldn't be where I am today without Jim's counsel and help every step of the way.

I've known Jim for more than two decades. During that time, he has become one of my closest and most trusted friends in politics and life. He calls me his brother, and I think of him as a father.

I want to thank Jim for his friendship and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish him continued success in all that God has planned for his family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the entire 6th Congressional District of Indiana, to recognize Jean Ann Harcourt and Terry Showalter for their contribution to our state.

Jean Ann is an institution in our state and is widely regarded as one of the state's top political minds. She owns and operates Harcourt Industries Inc. in Milroy, which produces school supplies, school spirit items and political signage. She also serves on the Board of Trustees at Ball State University. Jean Ann and Terry have been continually recognized throughout the years for their extraordinary contributions to Rush County and our state.

Most importantly, Jean Ann and Terry are my friends. I want to thank them for their friendship, wise counsel and loyalty to me over all these years. I wish them continued success in all that God has planned for their family.